future never lies, the
by E-mu saru
Summary: Duo found himself the shock that stored for them from the future, and the surprise of finding Heero's side he'd never thought he had inside.Would it lead to a better life or doom's day...?
1. list 3: have a bath together

**The future never lies 'gaku 25 march, 09**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's……too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…maybe undignified silliness_

**1. List # 3: have a bath together**

Duo tiptoed into the apartment; truth was he picked the lock since he'd thrown the key somewhere in the last fight a week ago, he didn't remember correctly but he thought he threw it out the window with some other things. The rundown apartment building near the junkyard was unkempt enough that the yards looked like a little jungle of trees and bushes and verdure, so if you ever throw something small like a key outside from the fifth attic-floor the chance of finding it was almost minus; why minus? Because you'd usually lost something more when you search such trek, an earring or a cellphone from your pocket for example, even the trigger-happy Heero lost his gun once in there (even though when he tried telling it to someone else no one believed him); and if you try thoroughly with a metal detector you'd only find yourself an awful load of metal scraps instead. Since people mostly thought it was deserted, Duo thought it wouldn't be suspicious if he come in like a thief; and it was still in the daylight, anyway…about almost 3 o'clock, and Heero would still be in the office. He frowned, feeling something amiss; at least he thought Heero would still be in the office…-sweatdrop-

Duo opened a private detective office downtown, thinking that he was mostly the informal-type worker rather than the formal-type like Heero who could put up with stiff ranking and rules. Heero joined the Preventer with Wufei; but when Wufei could put himself adequately behind a desk, Heero chose to be the multifunctional agent and do lots of the back-alley-office things. Duo guessed he, too, couldn't adapt to a normal working environment instantly after being a guerilla for most of his life. It was only a year after the Mariemeia incident anyway, and that meant they're still 17 year old ex-terrorists with identity-crisis and hormonal rage.

Duo sighed and scrutinized the living room, Heero didn't throw his belongings and silly souvenirs out…was that mean good thing? He felt sorry for acting childish and being the culprit of most of the breakdown in their relationship but still pointed the blame to Heero. Heero was still new to normal living, including normal human-relationship so mostly he took the blame and said 'it's just the way he is' and stubbornly didn't budge when Duo only wanted for him to say something like 'it's your fault as well' and then they could fix things together when they make it up to each other; that's mostly the reason why couples had fights, right? Perhaps he should just speak up what he really had in mind rather than hitting the bushes with Heero, since Heero definitely thought that he wanted to have the bushes for a cover…that's something about those guerilla thingie, by the way… -tears-

The round window curtain was still blocking the light, Heero didn't throw it out either; it was actually an embroidered small round tablecloth that he hung with curtain clips on a cloth hanger. He thought it was practical at the time he made it and Heero didn't object either; but now it looked silly for him, it was just like he was playing house like a child and he dragged Heero in the game…but Heero didn't complain, really; it was always him complaining about matters which were not really problems.

Shaking his head to clear his thought, Duo proceeded to the bedroom; he'd thought he was going to leave some surprise-'I'm sorry'-present on the bed to make up with Heero and such. He gasped as he could see the bundle on the said bed under the blanket from the doorway; he thought fast and the conclusion he could think from facts at the time was: 1) Heero was in bed, 2) He's not at work, 3) He's sleeping even though it was way past noon; therefor, 4) Heero must be sick…!

Duo rushed in to the bed, or at least he intended to; his wide strides stopped when the pillows exposed to his sight. It wasn't the pillow exactly that caught him off guard, but by being able to see the pillow from his angle meant that he could see the heads lying on them. In the middle was Heero sleeping soundly; by his sides, using his chest and shoulder as another pillow were two small heads of long brown haired and short brunette; Heero's hands were encircling their small bodies, which the blanket only covered to their waists and clearly showed that they were topless under the blanket. At least Duo didn't want to think they were naked…

……_Heero…with children…on bed…bare-chested…sleeping in……_ Well, being a 17 year old was still not counted legally adult yet, so may be he wouldn't actually say Heero was committing adultery with some underage children…but that's NOT the point, right?

The small present box dropped from his limp hands, and Duo only heard and saw statics, and ran out bumping to things and made loud noises. Once he got to the middle of the jungle-yard he found his voice and shreds of mind again and screaming "…..QUaTREEEEeeeeeee….!!" for help, running outside the rundown complex to the empty street.

The three heads in bed jerked together, stirring to wake with a long tired moan in unison. Three pairs of eyes fell on the small present on the floor as they propped themselves on their elbows; Heero frowned and glanced at the acrylic ashtray on the shelf next to bed, he'd searched Duo's key and put it there, the place where Duo used to place it in, but it seemed Duo didn't notice it. Heero groaned and threw his head onto the pillow again.

"…was that…-?" the brunette head asked.

"Aa…" Heero answered.

"…'sounds sweetly silly…!" the long brown haired said flatly; sounded either as a sarcastic comment or an enduring compliment.

The brunette snickered, "That's so impolite of you, Nii-san; you love that silliness coming from that-person…right?"

Two pairs of eyes burnt on him and Heero could feel it even though he was closing his eyes. "You don't say 'you' to your brother while actually asking me, right…?" he asked back levelly. The children giggled in unison; "…but Nii-san love that-person's silliness…!" they said in one voice pointed at each other.

"…so you're asking my permission?" he'd already used to the children calling each other Nii-san (elder brother).

"Uh-huh…!" they nodded together. Heero silenced for some moment; "…he's mine!"

"Okay…!!" the children threw themselves onto him again and rubbed theirs faces on his skin like kittens and rained him with kisses and explored with their fingers everywhere they could touch, mostly on his face and head; he felt like big teddy bear and it made him dizzy.

Heero lied still staring at the sloped ceilings, and thinking that he might actually feel sick, anyway…may be he should have called for a longer sick leave to the office.

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'Heero, I heard something unlikely from a hysterical Duo. I'm coming over after work. Quatre'

That's what the email read on Heero's laptop; the brunette hummed commenting the e-mail. "Nii-saaaan, bathtub's ready…!" his brother called out from the bathroom.

"It's too crowded to be occupied by three people…!" Heero's voice commented levelly, the brunette heard it from the bedroom and he pressed the delete button uncaringly and yelled "…ofuroooo!!" running to the bathroom with arms open.

"It's not a furo…!!" Heero only sounded being critical and not annoyed; the children laughed together.

Quatre had a disturbed frown on his face for once as he climbed up the stairs; he never thought that Heero had that-kind of _hobby_, but for Heero to actually…_be_…with children seemed unlikely as well, so he didn't really know what to think with Duo's hysterical report and just thought that he would see things with his own eyes. He lifted his hand to grip the door handle reflexively, but the door handle dodged his hand; Quatre stared for a few long seconds before his mind realized that the door was opened from the inside.

"…Heero?"

A messy brown head peeked from between the slit of the door panel and the door frame, a pair of prussian eyes stared at him widely. Quatre stared at the small head; it was a child about 10 of age with long brown hair almost reaching his mid thighs, the over-all image reminded him of someone but he couldn't put it to his mind.

"Nii-san, it's your turn to get dreeessed…!" a cheerful voice called out from the bedroom.

The boy turned around from Quatre and left the door ajar, "Tou-san, Quatre-sama is coming to _see things with his own eyes_…!" the brown haired walked away briskly and Quatre thought he saw the child had nothing on his body and covered by only the long messy wet hair. Wait, …_tou-san_?

"Waahh, really?!" another child of the same age came running from the bedroom, and Quatre knew whom that easy-going sunny smile belonged to…"Duo…?"

"En, I told you not to answer the door by yourself! Especially naked…!!" Heero walked briskly from the bedroom with a large towel and some clothes, by then Quatre noticed that the brown head called En was dripping wet leaving traces of droplets along his way.

"But Nii-san didn't answer the door, Tou-chama; Quatre-sama hasn't knocked the door yet, right?" the mini-Duo defended his brother.

…_Tou-chama_? Quatre had an uneven smile on his face.

Heero dried the wet…_mini-Heero_ (now that Quatre thought of it) and dressed the child with a large shirt and his usual black spandex. "What do you want to see here, Quatre?"

"Tou-san…, the shirt is baggy!" En commented spreading the width of the shirt at the sides of his small body. "We have none of your size!" Heero answered while actually staring at Quatre by the door.

"_Something-unlikely heard from a hysterical Papa_!" the mini-Duo offered enthusiastically raising his hand. "…said in the deleted e-mail!" he added as an afterthought.

"You don't just read and delete my e-mail as you like!" Heero admonished, "No touching my laptop and other electrical devices, either…!!" he turned from the mini-Duo to the mini-himself.

En lifted both hands in surrender, "I only meddled with your motion-detectors so we could get in without you firing your gun at us, Tou-san…!" he answered calmly.

"…Papa…?" Quatre mumbled. "What were you doing exactly?" …got to praise an under-aged CEO of a giant international corporation as big as the Winner's company for his calmness, though.

"Blackmailed-to-do list number 3: have a bath together…!" the mini-Duo said while raising his hand again.

"The what…?" Quatre had a very deep crease between his brows.

"Soleil…!" Heero sweat-dropped.

"But Papa didn't join in, so we wouldn't call it checked…!" En said with an overconfident smile, while Soleil nodded vigorously with a merry face.

Heero massaged his forehead, "Since you had scared Duo away, it's only natural that he didn't join in…!" he said matter-of-factly. The mini-pairs pouted at that.

_So, Papa is Duo_…, Quatre thought. "May I come in and have a drink…?"

"Do you have to be so formal for that?" Heero sounded annoyed.

"Yaaayy…! Nii-san will make Quatre-sama a drink…!!" the mini-pairs said in unison and came running at Quatre with open hands. The feeling of the children being real and tangible as they grabbed his waist and clung to him actually shocked Quatre, and he toppled behind bringing the children along. They landed with a loud thud but the children seemed to find it exciting as they laughed together still attaching themselves on Quatre's sprawled body.

"…Heero……, what's going on…?" Quatre asked to the ceiling.

Heero stared by the door way, "Are you sure you only need a drink?"

"I think I could use a hand…" Quatre said levelly, "No, make it two…for them!"

Heero complied and grabbed the children's waists and get them inside, tossed them on the couch as they squealed and laughed as if seeing that as a game. "You're not touching anything in the kitchen, as well…!" Heero poured a glass of ice water from the fridge and brought it to Quatre who was bracing his body the inside of the door panel. At least he got both feet in…

Quatre finished the glass content in large swigs, blowing his breath as he pulled the glass from his lips. "What's going on?" he already had his calm demeanor back.

The mini-pairs instantly clung on either sides of Heero's waist, "We're having Tou-chama and Papa to do at least 5 things from the blackmailed-to-do list a day or we'll erase this city from the map…!" Soleil said merrily.

"One city per failure-day…!" the mini-pairs said in unison and Quatre dropped the glass to a waiting Heero's hand.

"Whaat…?" Quatre muttered.

"We have the technology, too; we're from the future!" they said together again. Quatre turned to stare at Heero who was massaging his temples, then back to the smiling imps, and back to Heero again.

"May I sit down?" he asked levelly.

"Do you have to be so formal for that…?!" Heero seemed more annoyed as if it was a sarcastic remark he'd heard from Quatre.

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…saru thought of making something impishly-sweet for balancing the Shallow Mist…...(which somehow turned out to be kind of depressing as well –for the reader, saru meant…saru enjoyed writing a twisted-fic, though-)

It was originally an idea for a doujin, but Oni-tan said that readers now are mostly not familiar with GW and more with GSeed, instead.


	2. list 2: skinship in bed every morning

**The future never lies 'gaku 27 march, 09**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's……too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…maybe undignified silliness, some adult issues coming ahead_

**2. List # 2: have a skin-ship in bed every morning together**

"So……let me get this straight…" Quatre was massaging his forehead, Heero gave him an aspirin tablet which he put in his mouth without so much of a thought and chewed it like a fried hazelnut; the pair of imps saw that and they stared widely at Heero asking whether they could have some of it too, Heero only frowned at them.

After a heavy swallow, Quatre continued; "They're from the future and they're you and Duo's kids..--"

"Twins..!!" the imps raised their hands and said in one voice.

"--..alright, twin kids!" Quatre's lips crooked at one end, "And they're blackmailing you to do things from the list or else they will erase this city, how…?"

Quatre flinched only a fraction of second before the totem-carving by the wall behind him blew up to dust in a mute explosion, somehow there was something stinging his mind before it happened like an electrical current; he gasped and looked behind, the totem was a carving of some comical-animals of five with a number from 1-5 etched on their bellies and the animal of number 4 was no longer there as the number-5 statue dropped on the number-3 with a silent thump.

"En..! That's Duo's favorite souvenir!" Heero sat down calmly.

Duo found the totem in a yard-sale some time in the 1-year gap before the Mariemeia incident and he thought it was a remembrance of the five of them since it seemed that they would lead separate lives after the war; at least he thought they'd never keep close contact with each other, especially him and Heero. The number-1 statue was a Rambo-turtle with weapons in its arms and a grenade bitten in its mouth, number-2 was a cat-burglar skunk grinning mischievously with a stolen-crown in one hand and a royal-staff held by its fluffy tail, number-3 was a flying-squirrel wearing a long scarf around its neck and a classic pilot helmet with a pair of goggles like the ones he'd seen in classic movies, number-4 was a postal service clerk pigeon with a pair of small round glasses and a topless cap with scrolls of letters under its wings, the number-5 was a fisher-monkey with a pipe in its mouth wearing a bamboo-plead wide hat sitting cross-legged holding a fishing pole in one hand and propping its chin in a thoughtful pose. Duo etched the numbers after he decided he'd use the totem to commemorate his friends, although he was sure Wufei would be angry if he knew that he related him with a thoughtful-monkey.

"But Quatre-sama shouldn't be a pigeon!" the imps said again. "If any, Quatre-sama should be peacock..!"

"I'm not that flashy…!!" Quatre muttered reflexively.

"It didn't deny the fact that Duo loved that statue…!" Heero stated.

"But that's wrong, too…!!" the imps said with a sudden alert, "Papa should be loving you!!"

Heero and Quatre stared at the boys, "Why is that…?" Heero only wanted to test their view.

"Because the both of you wouldn't let us get born if you're not thinking about one another, right? What else is there to it…?!"

"…and who gave birth to whom exactly?" Quatre was only cynically curios.

"Papa!"

"Tou-san!" the imps pointed at one another.

So Duo should be giving birth to En and Heero to Soleil, one end of Quatre's lips twitched involuntarily; "…but if the two of you were born from two different people that would make you NOT twins, you know?" Quatre said.

The imps scowled, "We are twins!! Check our DNA if you want some convincing…!" and they mostly speak in unison too.

"First of all, you don't look alike…!"

"Nii-san looks like Papa/Tou-san!!" they spoke for one another again in the same time.

"…we are Papa-Tou-san twins…!" they had a sad frown on their faces staring at the table; for all he knew, the boys might say it that they were Heero-Duo clones; perhaps a mix of Heero's and Duo's DNA. Quatre's frown got deeper.

"And why do you have to come back to the past and blackmail your fathers? It's not a very nice thing to do, moreover to your parents, right?" Quatre tried with logics.

The boys silenced as they chewed their lower lips with the same action like it was a rehearsed movement. "But we have problems back home…" they looked at Heero conveying their hearts with wide eyes, "…and Papa/Tou-san is no more…!"

Quatre silenced as he'd assumed what had caused the boys to come back there and since the blackmailed-to-do list was mostly filled with domestic activities. He scratched his cheek in thought, sweat-dropping at the printed paper on the table in front of him.

"…what do you mean with 'skin-ship'?"

The boys stared at Quatre then to each other; "But it's called like that in the manga-books Papa left us, right? You don't understand…?" Heero groaned a low 'ooh' knowing what kind of manga-books Duo collected.

"WHAT SKIN-SHIP…?!!" Duo banged the door open and stood rigid while panting heavily like a mad bull by the entrance, the walls and windows rattled by the hard impact; it was an almost rundown building, after all.

Quatre stood up instantly, "Duo! I already told you to wait while I check it myself…!"

"LIKE I COULD STAND ASIDE AND LISTEN TO THESE CRAPS AND DO NOTHING!!"

En stood up first, staring at Duo with something flashed in his wide prussian eyes, then Soleil followed his brother, standing a little behind En embracing his right arm with both hands as if holding him back loosely. Duo's anger faltered for a few long seconds, he'd seen En's image somewhere, in his imagination while he pictured what Heero would look like when he was still a kid, some time when it was still in the war; what surprised him was the length of the little-Heero's hair reaching his mid-thighs, and by having it down Duo somehow had a flash of thought that the boy didn't know to braid it. He reflexively turned his gaze from that little-Heero to the boy beside him, and of course he'd recognize himself even with Heero's hair style; except that it was much younger than his own face.

Duo sniffled once, still having hard breaths he walked to the fridge and took a few big gulps from the milk carton. Closing the fridge door and wiping his mouth with the back of one hand, Duo let out the breath in relieve and fell behind with eyes showing only the whites. "Duo…!!" Quatre ran to his side while the boys only blinked.

"Tou-san/chama had it easier…!" the boys stared and _do nothing_.

Heero only had a few seconds of hesitation firing his gun at the boys after pointing the barrel at them in turns, despite En's logics of deactivating Heero's motion-detectors before they came in. "Papa is always the drama-king!" they nodded together stating it matter-of-factly.

"Believe me; it's not that easy to face you for the first time…!" Quatre wetted his handkerchief and put it spread on Duo's face ignorantly.

"Hey, I know that scene…!" En suddenly had a bright recognition on his face, "…then you put a few incenses burnt by the side of the head!"

"You're not saying that your Papa is dead…!!" Quatre lost his calm for a while.

The boys stared at each other again, "…but our Papa IS dead…!" they said innocently.

Quatre stared, "Then, if you know that Heero and Duo here are not your fathers, why--…"

"They are our fathers…!" They frowned disapprovingly, "…just not yet! They will be our fathers later; having the not-yet fathers is better than having dead-fathers that are nowhere to be found…!!" they had serious expression that Quatre didn't comment back.

After about 10 minutes, Duo's body jerked on the floor; "…what SKIN-SHIP…?!" he yelled and bolted to sit and the not so wet handkerchief plastered on his face got sucked into his open mouth and he coughed it out spitting loudly. There were giggles coming from the sofa and the sounds of clapping hands.

"Papa is amusing to watch…!!" the imps said in amazement. Quatre only hmph-ed and Heero groaned, each sitting on the matching seats placed at the ends of the table.

"…Duo…they said they just wanted to feel it that we are real and tangible…!" Heero half-groaned since his headache suddenly came back, massaging his temples with a deep crease between his brows. He still had issues to settle with Duo and this matter coming in broad daylight didn't help any.

"And what are they to you that you let them do as they please with your body..?!" Duo spat out almost disgustingly, Quatre couldn't help but notice Soleil's fingers twitched involuntarily by the pain piercing his heart hearing Duo's tone. He took it that the boys actually loved their Papa dearly from their words.

En had a sharp insensate look in his wide eyes, Quatre knew he was going to bite Duo's spat back but Soleil fast countered his eyes even before his mind thought of something to say to stop the longhaired boy. "…because you're not here so we filled in; if you're jealous then why don't you stay here instead of running away every time you started a fight and couldn't face yourself afterward…!" En said levelly.

"You--…!!" Duo bit his tongue accidently.

"Because if you don't want Tou-san then we could have him for ourselves; we're not treating him as badly as you are…!!" En stood from his seat; Quatre held his breath and took a glance at him, but his mind couldn't ignore Soleil's eyes on him and the fact that they could destroy the statue without even a twitch of their fingers alerted him.

"I don't have to take it from you, you little sl--..!!" Duo sprang to his feet, too.

"DUO…!!" Heero yelled loud enough to make Quatre jump.

"You're defending them?!" Duo asked incredulously, pointing at the boys.

"Duo…!" Quatre reminded him in alert.

"Oh, I see! Did they give extra service and you're LIKING it, Heero…?!!"

"Duo! I can't believe you're saying--…!"" Quatre seemed shocked and momentarily forgotten Soleil's eyes.

"If that's what it takes to have Tou-san--…!!" En didn't finish his words, he only felt his left cheek stinging hotly and he didn't even know what happened. Turning his face to the front again he saw Duo stood by the other side of the table, he didn't realize when Duo had approached but he knew that Duo had slapped him. There was a momentarily shaken look on his face, Quatre saw; but it instantly covered by the face of anger.

Soleil instantly stood up and grabbed his brother's shoulder; Duo only felt something flashing next to his face and suddenly the vase on the shelf behind him exploded to dust without a sound, he looked behind to see it showering the soon-dissolved powder just by slight reflex. Quatre stood up, extending his arms between them; "Guys, let's not make it a war over simple things, alright…?" he was taken by the sudden attack that he didn't really sort his words, when he realized what he'd said he hoped that the enraged En wouldn't take it as an insult and decided to explode some organic things in that room, namely them.

"…You're so low, Duo Maxwell…!!" En yelled furiously, but his eyes were slightly wetter than usual; he slipped from his brother's holds and jumped over Heero's head on his chair that was blocking the way to the door with such agility abnormal to common people; Heero blinked as there was a drip of warm liquid fell on the back of his hand he used to massage his forehead with, a lick confirmed it that it was tear. He turned to stare at Duo's hurt angry face, fighting a stare with a calm Soleil; En's words ringing in his hot ears, '…_running away every time you started a fight and couldn't face yourself afterward_'; staring Soleil felt almost like facing himself with his deep knowing eyes seeing his every secret like an open illustrated-book.

"…you're mean, Papa…" Soleil started levelly, almost apologetically; "I don't know about Tou-chama, but you once had a figure you called 'father' even though he's not really that-kind of father to you; you know how painful it is to be rejected by such person; especially if you know he's your genetic-father. Well, I guess we're prepared to be looked down like the scandalous illegitimate sons, by I never know you could be so insensate of a person…!" he huffed, "But I guess, it was just us imagining things we'd like about both of you…" Soleil bowed in apology and headed to the door in pursue for his twin.

"What…" Duo stuttered after the silence fell heavily in the room, "What is that suppose to mean?! I never wanted--…!" Duo's words cut off as he accidentally bit his tongue again, may be not so unconsciously since his heart throbbed painfully realizing the words that were going to get out of his mouth; 'never wanted them' was something he didn't want to hear about himself from other people. Feeling in dire need to hide, Duo ran and locked himself in the bedroom.

That left Quatre and Heero alone in the living room; it was awkward that Quatre fidgeted on his standing spot, he never knew that Heero and Duo's life was full of such childish struggles like that; but some fights were not as childish with the kind of pasts they had.

Heero realized it in the way the boys caressed him in bed, like petting a cat or a doll; only wanting to touch his skin, feeling the warmth of his body heat, hearing his heart beats, feeling him real and reachable…that perhaps the boys never actually felt their fathers alive in their world. He knew it, he once had that kind of urge when he was a small kid trying to imagine human touch as well; they had that same empty longing he once saw when he looked at himself in the mirror, disappointed at himself when he couldn't imagine things he didn't understand and never experienced. That's why he didn't push them away…

"…Quatre…" Heero started slowly, Quatre jerked in surprise, he knew it was domestic-kind of matters and perhaps Heero would please him to go home; he knew he wouldn't insist on staying once Heero said something like that, since it's not his right to intrude. "…are you hungry?"

"Alright, I'll just--…" Quatre stopped as his stomach decided to answer by itself, "…what??"

Heero chuckled, "I'll make something; besides, you don't look like you wanted to leave…!" Fixing the apron flies behind his back, he walked to the fridge; "Please have a seat back. What food do you like?"

"Uh, anything is fine; thank you…!" Quatre sat and felt even more awkward seeing Heero's smile, it was almost seemed…what it would be called…parental smile…?!

"Fried rice is okay? I didn't go to pick some groceries yesterday, so I only have some leftover rice in the rice cooker…! Well, not much things to cook to go with the rice, anyway!"

"I'll help you out!" somehow Quatre felt self-conscious and only sitting alone made him feel exposed.

"Sit!!" Heero was already stressed enough that he could go-Zero any moment if he lost his smile, like now. Perhaps he was trying to divert his mind to something more productive.

"Okay!" Quatre obeyed like a 5-year old child and sat neatly.

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Soleil walked to a small attic at the corner of the building, knowing his twin's exact whereabouts. The building was empty from the third level up, and the other residents were only a pair of old couple and a deaf man on first level, and a striving part-timer artist on the second level. He heard the silent sobs his brother was making and Soleil knew what he was doing inside, holding his hands close to his chest as if he was praying, balled in a dusty corner.

"En-nii……!" the brunette squatted down in front of his twin.

"Does it hurt that much…?" he gently stroked the head and slipped the cascading long locks behind one ear.

En sobbed out and lifted his face, "…Papa hit me!" he said brokenly. "I never thought that the first touch from Papa would be hurting this much…!"

"The both of you are just too much alike…!" Soleil said with a gentle smile; En sniffled and wiped his tears with the back of one hand.

"Really…?"

Soleil nodded, his smile bloomed wider; "Yup..! You're both childish!" En didn't seem to be too impressed with that, he pouted with accusing eyes at his mini-Papa; which only earned him a chuckle from the brunette.

"But you're fast, aren't you? Already taking preventive action in the first day…?" Soleil brushed the balled hand on his brother's knees.

"Umm…at least, this-Papa wouldn't regret fighting over this vase with Tou-san and kept the piece of it as if it was part of his broken-heart, right?" En had his smile back right away, though it was a painful smile. The vase was some souvenir Duo kept just because he insisted that he needed the feeling of his belongings in the house, he didn't really like it but since Heero didn't say anything whether he like it or hate it that Duo felt ignored, Duo put it in a strategic place and always felt depressed every time he saw it. In the past of the future-them, Duo had thrown the vase almost hit Heero in the face in their last fight; the piece that the future-Duo kept was the shard that had grazed Heero's cheek and had some blood on it. The future-Heero left after that fight and never be found again, even by the other ex-pilots; that what had the future-Duo kept it as a substitute of Heero's broken heart, En always kept that piece of acrylic-glass as the substitute of Duo instead.

"Well, I wouldn't say that what you did was smart, but I admit it you have the same length of patience with Papa…!" Soleil shrugged; En only hmph-ed dignifiedly. "Shall we go back in, now?" Soleil asked levelly.

En stared at the piece of red acrylic-glass pressed in the vacuum clear medallion-like pendant hung around his neck; "…do you think Papa really hates us?"

"We'll find out, ne?" Soleil pulled his twin to his feet and walked back hand in hand to their fathers' apartment.

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……this is fast, ne?

_Thx for reading_


	3. list 5: have a civilized meal together

**The future never lies 'gaku 09 nov, 09**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's……too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…maybe undignified silliness, some adult issues coming ahead_

**3. List # 5: have a civilized meal on the same table together **

Quatre said his short grateful prayer for the meal and chewed his first spoon of fried rice carefully; it was still nicely steaming, so his taste buds took a longer time to access the taste of the cooking because of the heat. Not that he minded of the taste at the moment, though…nor the heat burning his taste buds.

"…It's good, Heero…!" Quatre complimented with a smile after he swallowed the rice in his mouth; the warmth slid into his throat and felt nice. "…Uhrmm…!" he cleared his throat despite the nice feeling it felt after he realized that the air didn't melt even the slightest bit, he's beginning to have the chill merrily running up and down his spines.

……_and who it was who declared that they should have a **civilized** meal…?_ His mind complained at his effort; perhaps he shouldn't have pushed it; if ever the air just dropped a few degrees colder.

Duo chewed his mouthful of rice slowly, as if he didn't want to be there but his stomach ordered him to and his brain was in the lower rank compared to it in the sacred hierarchy system of the human-body, so his brain cells couldn't argue. Quatre stole a glance at him across the table, and instantly averted his eyes back to his steaming plate when Duo countered his eyes with Heero's dark-scowlingTM; and being smothered by the frozen air, his senses got highly sensitized just like being in the nightmarish battle, say like, 40:1 of MSs against a single him without his Gundam, that's why he could sense En squirmed on his seat while sipping his mug of water without actually seeing the boy.

Duo seemed to be bothered enough that his senses caught the boy's small movements as well, and glared at the mini-Heero sitting at the left of the table side from his seat. En gasped at the sudden glare as he encountered it and the surprise was enough to make him dropped the mug; but before it hit the floor, the mug and its splashing content was suddenly blew up in a mute explosion and evaporated into the air.

It's almost like the magic trick scene like those in TV shows…or the ninja tricks in films…or other things like those concerning tricks and smokes and vanishing things…

En pulled himself a little and took a shelter behind Soleil's shoulder, since they were sitting on the same chair. It was a small dining chair to be occupied by two people, but they insisted to have a seat together; seeing that En was still a bit shocked by Duo's slap earlier, and Soleil's big-brotherly protectiveness he showed since the beginning, Quatre already thought that they wouldn't want to be separated in front of the still highly explosive Duo right now.

…_No! Made that **terrified**…!_ Quatre made another mental note at En's almost indistinguishable mewl; while he noted that Soleil was smiling composedly at Duo as if he was countering a _'hello, there!' greeting with a big shiny smile_. But witnessed and noted that it was only triggering Duo's darker death glare to the point of beyond max and above it.

So En was the more vulnerable one while Soleil was the daredevil one; something clicked in Quatre's mind, something about Heero when he'd seen him unintentionally from Duo's perspective after Heero self destructed in Wing back in the war. Duo had seen Heero as an inhuman soldier before that, been complaining a lot about him and his _terminatoric_ behavior as he'd put it; but after he'd witnessed Heero pushed that self destruct button after only a little hint of order to do it from Dr. J, he'd pictured Heero as a little boy with no one to ask protection from and Duo had been drowned in his regret and the depth of his own empathy for that little boy so strong that Quatre had felt it in Duo's air like a vow for the whole month when he'd took him to the Maguanac's village to hide.

"…nii-san…!" En whispered to his twin-unlike brother to stop him baiting Duo's anger. Soleil turned his eyes to Heero, who was sitting across them and pretended that he was sitting alone while eating his fried rice with efficient motoric movement.

"The meal is good, thank you, Toucchama…!" Soleil said, sweetening his endearment call he used to call Heero with, definitely declaring his deathwish to an almost berserk Duo.

Then, Quatre noted three things happened at the same time: 1) Heero answered uncaringly his usual short answer of "Aa..!" –so, he'd been paying attention to all of them after all behind his seemingly uncaring act ; 2) Duo's anger exploded and as he instantly sprang to his feet banging the table with his hands-; 3) …-there was another mute explosion in the middle of the dining table and the temporary mute-moment swallowed Heero's "Aa…!" and left a relatively big hole in the center of the wooden table……it reminded him of a Japanese coin, only the opposite shape: round hole in the square plate. If only Heero and Duo had a round dining table, he would have been reminded of a donut's shape…or may be that candy that was selling the hole in it.

There were the sounds of clattering small things fallen from the table hole and somehow Quatre felt like they were almost like cheering the situation to be even worse, he winced.

"Sorry…" En's voice was small and hitched, just the voice of a normal frightened boy would make.

"I'll take care of that after we finish, Toucchama…!" Soleil offered with a smile as if they were in the normal civilized dining scene and he was offering to take the dirty plates away.

"Please do that…" Heero answered without looking at anything besides his almost finish fried rice.

"Youu…!" Duo hissed out his low growling.

"Yes, Father?" Soleil asked still with his smile intact, "Anything you would like us to do besides cleaning the table afterwards?"

"I don't care about the city! Why are you still here?!" Duo barked with menacing bared teeth.

'…Papa…' En mouthed with wet hurtful large eyes again; Quatre wished that Duo would stop exploding his anger out but he just couldn't take his middle side moment out of the situation.

"DON'T CALL ME _THAT_…!!" it was perhaps out of reflex, but Duo grabbed the ketchup bottle and threw it to the boy. Fortunately the bottle blew up midway before hitting anyone's face, Quatre thought, since the bottle was still almost full.

Heero paused delivering the last of his spoonful of fried rice to his mouth for a couple of seconds, but registering that no one seemed to actually engage in murdering party, he took his last spoon with his mouth and mumbled his gratefulness for the meal unintelligently while actually walking to the sink in the kitchen with his plate in hand and his spoon in the other hand.

"AREN'T YOU GONNA THROW 'EM OUT, HEERO…?!" Duo yelled while still glaring at the boys; Quatre winced again at the volume of Duo's voice.

"IT'S ME OR THEM…!!"

"NO--YOU GET 'EM OUT, AND I'LL CONSIDER WHETHER I'D STAY OR NOT!!" Duo corrected; at which Soleil smirked…perhaps at Duo's childish act; staring at Duo with knowing mature eyes, of which only giving Duo the slap on his face, and fuelled his anger even more.

"……I never force you to stay if you don't want to…!" came Heero's distant answer from the kitchen's door; hearing that, Quatre winced until he closed his eyes and kept them closed for some more time, holding his breath unconsciously.

"FINE!! I TAKE IT THAT YOU DON'T WANT ME HERE…!!" Duo pushed his chair back until it tumbled down with a loud sound; "-SEEING THAT YOU ALREADY HAD YOUR TOYS TO PLAY WITH!!"

Quatre snapped his eyes open instantly, "Duo, sit down!" he admonished sternly without raising his voice. Duo snapped his head at him with mouth open ready to yell out something more; "S I T !!" but Quatre's flaming eyes beat him to it.

Duo growled angrily and engaged in a staring fight with Quatre for some long seconds, but eventually he pulled the chair back to its feet rather roughly and throwing himself on it making a loud sound. His eyes stared back at Quatre darkly, giving note that he'd remember the day when the blond crossed him and decided to be not on his side, but it didn't waver Quatre's determination to finish the fried rice Heero had made for them.

"Thank you. Could we please continue our civilized meal?" Quatre frowned a little and continued spooning his fried rice, practically ignoring Duo's glare now directed at him. Apparently Soleil decided to follow their own demand and continued eating his meal with a spoon in his left hand, while his right hand stroking En's head on his shoulder.

Duo took a much longer pause but he eventually followed suit, making sure that the three of them noticed that he was glaring at them while eating.

"Why do I have to endure your demands, again…?!" Duo growled when he almost finished his meal.

Quatre perked up, glancing at the boys; he, too, was curious as for the reason behind the boys' act that drove them to even use the city to blackmail their would-be fathers.

"They're the rules…!" Soleil answered lightly.

"What rules?!" Duo growled skeptically.

"Family rules…" Soleil lifted one shoulder, making En's head on it seemingly nodding in agreement.

"Family rules?!" Duo mocked.

Soleil nodded once, eyes ignoring Duo, "…as in the Family Codex…-"

"What…?!" Duo's face contorted in a mocking skeptical leer, he was beginning to change his facial color out of anger, Quatre noted.

"-written by _you_…!" Soleil continued sounding like he was half caring.

Quatre noted that Duo could change his facial color in a second, like a chameleon, and of different colors too.

Slowly Duo stood up, keeping both hands on the table and his eyes staring at some imaginary space above the table; "Duo…!" Quatre was alerted by Duo's stealth-kind of move and knew Duo would do something dangerous.

"Would you like to see your own hand-writing as proof, Father…?" Soleil seemed calm as ever. Duo stared at him without turning his head and narrowed his eyes with a predatory warning.

Soleil ignorantly didn't mind him; used his forefinger touching the middle line of the white lining on his black suit at his chest, he slid it down and as the suit opened he pulled out a small handbook with a dirty leather jacket, of which color couldn't be identified anymore, from the left side of his chest. He laid the small book respectfully on the table before him, eyes kept on it as if minding the well being of that book more than his own.

Quatre was more interested with the boy's suit, since he didn't see any zipper under the white line; but his brows twitched when he realized that the black cloth was closing itself like a living thing. _Something organic…?_ He thought to himself, when suddenly it occurred to him that what the boy did earlier was not undoing a fastening mechanism, _he was slicing the cloth open with his finger! …since that cloth would mend itself back to its early state…! _The two boys had been considerate enough that they came back wearing their own clothes and not Heero's (the ones he himself had put on the boys after they took the bath together), thinking that Duo would mind **a lot** about them, but Duo didn't seem to find their consideration fascinating.

"…?" Quatre realized then that he didn't feel Duo's anger in the air anymore; he snapped his head to Duo and was caught by Duo's expression; anguish, sadness, helplessness, remorse, anger, vengeful…so many dark emotions coiling together in his darkened shocked eyes. There was a flash of the hurt of betrayal in Duo's eyes before they started to get wet.

Duo jerkily took the book offered, the leather felt warm as it absorbed Soleil's skin warmth; he opened its pages with such care his jerky hands could maintain. Quatre noted gravely that the dirty color seeped into the leather jacket and the paper was blood, layers of dried blood from different source and time.

The book was small, even smaller than Duo's palm; it was Sister Hellen's pocketbook she had given Duo when she died. In it written the names of the other children of the Maxwell Church orphanage, her prayers for every child, and other small things about them that seemed important at the time; what they liked, their whishes, what made them sad, what made them happy…the dates of their parents deaths, or when they were taken in. It was Sister Hellen's small treasure chest, the hopes she carried with her all the time for the children's future. It was their tombstone Duo kept to get through the war, being the only survivor whose name also written in that book.

When he was captured by OZ he thought he had lost it forever…

A drip of his tears landed on the dirty paper, and Duo gasped and reflexively tried to sweep it with his hand before the liquid ruined the already faded pencil writing; but he realized then that the salty water didn't seep through. It took him several seconds to realize what caused it.

"…we had to coat the paper so it would still be intact when delivered to you here; I'm sorry that we took ahead of ourselves and did it without your permission…!" Soleil said solemnly. Duo just let out a relief "Oh…" as he was still caught in the moment and he missed what the boy just said in his early sentence.

He skipped a few pages and found his own scribbling of the list, written with pencil and had blotches of tears in some areas that made it hard to read, but he could read most of them and they were indeed the list that the boys had shown him earlier before they started to eat. Those were mostly something he'd thought to himself about what the routines of his daily life that would be spent with Heero, but the last one caught his eyes like a scream to his ears: _DON'T LET GO!!_

'Don't let go'…written in anguish that in some parts the pencil had torn the paper.

Duo stared at the big uneven writings and knew 'he' had written it with a deep remorse and anger at himself, and hurt... He instantly knew the reason. '_I had let…Heero go…?_' his mind asked repeatedly, his paranoid heart had whispered it again and again that one day Heero would leave him and that's why he had to keep Heero hanging on to him even if he had to sort to blackmail him…

…_blackmail him… that's what he'd left the boys with… that was his legacy…!_ The realization struck him and he didn't feel it when he'd fell sitting back on his chair behind.

"……Duo?" Quatre was alarmed as Duo's face turned blank and eyes unseeing, he could sense Duo's realization with his heart a moment before and suddenly the connection just severed…no, missing…! Duo was missing…!

"Duo, are you alright?" Quatre stood up and bent his body to touch his limp hand on the book across the table.

By then Duo's limp fingers had somewhat let the pages slip and as they flipped to close there was another handwriting on the last page that caught Duo's eyes even in his shock.

'Sorry', the writing read.

It was Heero's handwriting.

'Sorry'… the letters was boldly written in blood.

'Sorry'… Duo's eyes widened as his numb mind deciphered the meaning or the reason why that writing was there. His mind decided to avoid his paranoid heart and focused on something else…

That day when Heero came to kill him in OZ's prison… he must have taken that book back when he decided to take Duo out, instead. Knowing what that book meant for him, since he'd once showed it to Heero when they roomed together in a school's dorm.

But Heero didn't find it important to give it back to him…?!

Sure, they had parted in a not so friendly term after Heero took care of his wounds for a couple of days after rescuing him, they had argued about something that felt crucial at the moment in a war's perspective, although now he couldn't really remember the importance about his reasoning or their fight; but shouldn't he cared enough to remember at least about telling him that he had the book back…?

"Duo…?" Quatre called even more alarmed, he recognized that Duo's eyes were torn with betrayal and his air felt sharp like frozen razorblade slicing his hand that was touching Duo's.

So, Heero had kept the book from him, and thought that a single word written with blood could appease him?!

If the book in his hand was the one brought from the future; that meant the book of the present was still in Heero's possession… and Heero was still keeping it from him…! Surely it's not only because he couldn't find the right time to give it back, right…?!

So…Heero yielded to the boys…because he'd seen the future-book and saw his handwriting of the list; since he knew that the book he's keeping still had yet those handwritten list, right? So it's the proof he needed for believing the boys' identities…and thought by fulfilling the future-Duo's demands in that list he could be forgiven…? _Now?!_ _In this time where he is still deceiving me…?! _His mind's voice screamed in his head, blinding all logics and ratio and heart.

"Heero…" Duo called with a deep calm voice, and En gasped as he realized that his Papa decided to take his anger out to his Tou-san too. "…you're keeping the book from me…"; En widened his eyes realizing the fact and stood up, Soleil only glanced at him for a moment and then stared back at the book under Duo's hand.

"…aren't you?"

Quatre pulled his body straight and turned to Heero standing at the kitchen door, staring with unreadable eyes at Duo who was sitting with his back to him, but one could almost categorized his stare as indifferent.

"I kept it hidden somewhere…" was his soft flat answer.

"…and didn't find it important to tell me about it?" Duo asked with the same flat tone, only a little harder and edgy.

Heero took a moment's pause; "It's somewhere only you could find…!" his answer was somewhat uncaring. Quatre gasped as his heart felt something cold and liquid sliding down his cheeks, even though they were intangible, he was sure they were tears, but he couldn't sure whose tear it was as the air was already filled with too much empathy-readings and his instinct had somewhat chose to numb his empathy a little so he wouldn't collapse by overdose.

Then it was Duo's turn to take a longer pause, perhaps he was controlling his feeling or tears; "…why?" but his voice was dry.

"…I thought I wouldn't survive the war-"

"You thought, or you didn't intend to, Heero?!" Duo barked. Heero silenced, Duo sniffed his runny nose and angrily wiped his wet eyes with his other hand. "You didn't intend to survive the war… and you didn't intend to live with me afterwards, did you…? So what are you doing playing house with me, Heero?!" Duo spat it out, along with his hurt feeling that Quatre kept a hand on his own chest touching his empathic heart and kept silence, standing like a statue of the totem carving that now missing its pigeon figure.

"I'm sorry!! It's our fault; please don't take it out on Tou-san…!" a tearstained face materialized in front him, and Duo turned his eyes at a hurtful mini-Heero's eyes pleading him not to hate his Heero. "You could hit me, but please don't hate Tou-san!"

_Why should you care…? Heero himself didn't care…whether I hated him or loved him…!_

Duo's right hand lifted from the book on the table to the boy's face slowly, as if unconsciously. En flinched and kept his eyes narrowed expecting a blow but didn't close his eyes. Duo realized that the boy's eye color changed from Heero's prussian to his eye color, a striking violet color that even more recognizable when wetted by tears. His mind admitted that it's something _he_ would do; if Heero had left him, then he'd make another Heero and give _him_ his eyes when _he_ cries, so that every time _Heero_ face a mirror and something hurt him enough to make him cry, _his-eyes_ could see him… even if that _Heero_ would decide to leave him again…_he_ would still be able to at least see Heero when _Heero_ is sad…

…sad… Heero was so sad that he cried to him… Duo's mind evaluated numbly.

His fingers caught a lock of long brown hair and thought again that _this Heero_ didn't know how to braid his long hair. Why? Heero knew how to braid hair, he'd taught him himself once when Heero had to take care of him when he was bedridden courtesy of the daredevil battle he had with a bunch of Leos while he only had a motorcycle and some hand guns with him.

Why would _this Heero_ not knowing how to braid it…? _Because he wasn't there to teach you…, was he…?_ Duo's hand fell down limply to his laps.

_He didn't care enough to survive the war… or to have a life after that. Heero didn't care enough about me…_ His paranoid heart whispered bitterly, and his mind yielded.

"…Papa…?" En whispered when he realized Duo ignored him.

"En-nii…" Soleil called softly and pulled his brother by the waist to sit back on his laps; "We shouldn't meddle our fathers' private matters…!" and the brunette kept him there by embracing him by the waist with both hands, Quatre noted. Then the mature eyes beyond his age glanced at Quatre's and flashed him a small smile sympathetically.

Quatre blinked and realized that the boy could read his mind. They read minds, that's why they made it a matter about Duo hating Heero…! Or about their misunderstandings with each other that they didn't bother to straight out…

Duo slid the book on the table back to Soleil, and without anything to say he stood up and went back into the bedroom; but he didn't lock the door, he didn't even bother to close it. Heero was silence staring him disappear from the room, after a few minutes passed he followed into the bedroom ignoring Quatre and the boys and their eyes that were still staring at his back until he's gone.

Since their apartment was on the attic level, there were some divided small rooms that originally hidden like a secret storage room probably used to stock something by the previous owner in the war time. Duo found his secret room and had claimed it as his hide out and used it as his refuge when he wanted to find his solitude; it was merely a closet wide and a tight fit for him to lie down in it now that he'd grown, but he knew Heero would never bother him when he lock himself in that room. Heero didn't even dare to knock the sliding wall that was the room's door, he merely waited outside waiting on the floor when they had a fight and Duo retreated to that room. Sometimes Duo would find him fell asleep on the floor, hugging his knees and rested himself in the corner of the alcove next to the room's door. It had turned into their routine each time they had hard times; Duo wouldn't come out until he finished with his sulking, and Heero wouldn't dare to knock the door as if he was silently afraid to make another mistake, and Duo would blame him more thinking that Heero didn't care enough about him.

Quatre watched the slightly opened bedroom door with saddened eyes; he didn't witness that much of details but his heart felt it even clearer than what his eyes could see up close.

"Quatre-sama…"

"Please stop addressing me that…!" Quatre answered half consciously; and Soleil chuckled.

"…would you like another helping?"

"What? No, thank you…!" Quatre turned his face to the boys eventually and saw that En was still having his tears streaming down his cheeks. "Umm… are you alright?"

Soleil chuckled again, and affectionately tightened his embraced; "It's fine, Nii-san is usually a stone-head, but once he cry it's hard for him to stop…!"

En sounded his objection by sniffing wetly once, staring defiantly at Quatre; and Quatre realized that it was indeed kind of Duo-ish, and his heart melted at the sight. He would never think that Heero's boyish face would be that adorably cute…

"It's alright; they'll sort it out somehow…!" he tried a convincing smile.

"No! Papa will kill Tou-sa--!"

"Nii-san!!" Soleil fast covered En's mouth with one hand and pulled his head back onto his shoulder. He flashed a too bright grin instantly and said, "It's nothing, Quatre-sama. They will sort it out sooner or later. Sooner, I hope…!"

But Quatre already heard En's outburst, and he widened his eyes in shock. _Duo will kill Heero…?!_

"Would you like a piece of shortcake for dessert, Quatre-sama?" Soleil asked again with his big too bright of a grin, standing up and putting his brother down on the chair; while En, seemingly have caught himself, covering his own mouth with both hands and turning his face away from Quatre. He was sweating a lot feeling Quatre's eyes drilling a hole on the side of his head.

"Could you please share me your knowledge in this matter, En-kun…?" Quatre narrowed his eyes and whispered it slowly, and En trembled slightly under that sugarcoated predatory carefulness.

Soleil was running to the door and pulled the handle once the end of his fingers touched it. "Oh…-!" there was a slightly surprised utterance coming from someone outside the door, and it's stopped in a caught.

"Good evening…! Fei Oji-chan…!!" Soleil said merrily. And En jerked to motion and instantly fled the dining chair leaving Quatre.

"Fei Oji-chaaan…!!" the long haired boy instantly glomping the frozen Wu Fei's waist as if it was a lifeline.

Quatre blinked, staring at the empty chair. _Fei…? Oji-…wait…-**chan**?!_

"Oh, you're already here, Quatre…!" Wu Fei's voice sounded half amused; and Quatre turned his head finding Wu Fei standing in the middle of the living room with the boys leeching his waist. Quatre noted that there was a few questions etched on his face, but Wu Fei was generally NOT in shock finding the miniatures of his friends clinging onto him and calling him uncle.

"Want some shortcake? I'm here to see how Heero's doing since he suddenly called in for sick leave for the whole week…!" Wu Fei lifted the carton box he had in one hand at Quatre and offered the reason for his visit without being asked.

"You bring shortcake to see a sick Heero…?" Quatre was at the moment having his mind filled with too many things to think about that he didn't realize the words he was using.

"For Duo. Where are they?" Wu Fei answered simply.

"For Duo?"

"He called me 17 times this afternoon; but I was in a meeting, so I had my cell phone turned off. What's the emergency?"

"…oh…" Quatre mumbled lamely. "Umm… them?" he pointed to the boys still leeching Wu Fei's waist who were now raising their arms at Quatre's word and pointing finger.

Wu Fei looked down and had a little frown, "You want some shortcake?"

"No…!" the boys shook their heads and answered together, staring up at Wu Fei's face with wide eyes. At that Wu Fei lifted one shoulder half caringly, put the carton on the living room table, and sat on the sofa bringing the boys along, took the remote from the lower level of the table and turned the TV on, picking his channels.

Quatre stared them with a small frown for a moment then decided that someone had to clean the table; so he started by piling the dirty plates together.

Soleil gasped as he realized he had said that he would do it to Heero; sprang to his feet and materialized on Quatre's side without a moment's delay. "I'll do it, Quatre-sama. Please take a seat with Fei Oji-chan…!" he swiftly picked up the fallen things and arranged them back on the table, minding the hole in the center; and took the dirty plates from Quatre's hands. "I'll make some tea, please wait a moment…!" with that the boy disappeared into the kitchen even before Quatre thought of anything to say.

Quatre walked slowly to the living room and noticing Wu Fei's serious expression, he momentarily decided to push aside Heero-Duo's matter for now, and the sight of a long haired miniature Heero hiding his face from him using Wu Fei's body that he was still currently clinging on to. "What's the matter?" Quatre asked frowning at the TV screen.

"…something you should see yourself before the government cover it with false unreasonable explanations…!" Wu Fei pressed the volume button when he found the channel with the news he wanted to show Quatre.

Quatre had his frown deeper at the people interviewed in the TV as witnesses to _alien's landing site_ as they called it, behind the people was a huge round crater about the size of five-Gundams-lying-in-a-star-shape-arrangement wide; but he noticed that there was no sign of combustion left, the soil and rocks and including some trees were seemingly vanished into the air. Smooth surfaced and clean cut and all… He had some idea what, or more correctly, who had caused it; turning his eyes slowly at the still hiding En at Wu Fei's left side.

"Oh, they've found it!" Soleil stated simply while putting the cups of tea on the table, he put the tray under the table and reclaimed Wu Fei's right side. "They're slow…!" the mini-Duo commented with a pulled wince.

"So, you know what's fast?" Wu Fei asked indifferently.

"Us…!" Soleil said uncaringly.

Quatre stared at them, not really knowing whether Wu Fei meant it as a wordplay or a bait; and at the boy who probably didn't care whether it was only a wordplay or indeed a bait.

"…'mind filling me in about that?" Wu Fei asked calmly.

"What do you think?" Soleil asked with a bold smile; his violet eyes momentarily turned prussian with his excitement; Quatre didn't miss that.

"Well… I know that you're not Duo and he's not Heero; so that scratched the probability that perhaps Duo and Heero had taken some experimental drugs back in the war that was meant to preserve youth so that they could fight longer as soldiers should the war took a longer time to end while somehow the drug had a side effect and in fact made the both of them shrunk to smaller boys again now…" Wu Fei offered himself instead of actually answering the mini-Duo's challenge.

"Hummmm…." Quatre sipped his steaming tea and hummed something either as complaint at the situation or a compliment at Wu Fei's assessment, of which he'd be more grateful if only that's actually the case.

"Ha ha ha ha ha haa…!" Soleil's laughter was pleasing to the ear as he sounded amused at Wu Fei's words, and perhaps calmness.

"And considering your ages, it's unlikely that you are their illegitimate sons they made somewhere after they got too drunk in a drinking party after work; so it's either you are their younger brothers or their spareparts…!" Wu Fei continued; Quatre choked on his hot steaming tea at the last word, and his mind pointed that it already skipped the first sentence unnoticed.

"Spare-whaaat…?!" Quatre managed to ask between his coughs. While it definitely triggered another series of Soleil's laughter, and he was amused enough that he was half consciously clapping his hands.

"Nii-saaan…!" En complained softly at his twin's boldness.

"Sugoi! Sugoi!...What else, Fei Oji-chan?"

Wu Fei stared at the bouncing mini-Duo at his right side, "…well, it's everyone's secret that the doctors were geniuses that were desperate enough to even sort to anything including engaged in mad experiments using human bodies and probably had us cloned somewhere just to make sure that we could still fight when needed in the war after whatever happens and I wouldn't be too surprise if they had a stock of our organs or limbs somewhere just in case we got too damaged piloting Gundams while the war was still going on…!" Wu Fei stated mildly.

Quatre coughed hard once and screeched with tea running from his nose, "Wu Feiii…!!"

Soleil was doubled over laughing himself off until he was about to suffocate, that part of him was Duo-ish as well. "Haa ha ha ha ha ha ha……that's about… all…hihihihihihii!!" Soleil forced his amused words out between his laughter and wheezing and tears.

En frowned at his brother's antics, "Nii-san… It's not something to laugh about…!" he complained softly, there was momentarily a dark shade of empathy in his prussian eyes.

"So? Should I rearrange the words and made another conclusion…?" Wu Fei asked; "Well, it hasn't got anything to do with whatever caused a huge clean-cut crater somewhere out the city in only a night's time with no one there to witness it happening or how it was made…!"

Wu Fei scratched his chin, "Should I add something like weapon into the assessment, then?"

At that Soleil's laughter subsided almost instantly, but he still had his plastered grin on his face. "…what do you think, then, Fei Oji-chan…?"

Wu Fei faked a thinking pause, the smiling Soleil knew that he had it figured out already; "…likely, you could make smaller identical phenomena here like making a hole in the center of a dining table or making the Quatre-pigeon of Duo's favorite totem missing from 'the Five'…!"

Soleil snickered satisfactorily at Wu Fei's assessment and the fact that he didn't miss to notice his surrounding even in a slightly passed time as then, En was wide eyed. Quatre groaned a little, complaining what the others had called that pigeon-carving; and silently grateful that it's gone now.

"…but I don't know how you did it or for what reason, though, seeing that the both of you act civilized enough with me…or Quatre; so I wouldn't classified the situation as alarming emergency, but first assessment proven to be more likely wrong in the next page once you flipped the paper,… so, should I lay my weapons down on the table before you decided to disarm me?"

Soleil blinked in amusement, while En slowly detached himself from Wu Fei's body and kneeled, patting Wu Fei's head slowly, "Fei Oji-chan… mou yoi…!" En said slowly. Wu Fei was, in that moment where he thought he was 180% sure that he was facing a Gundam with a self-destruct button already pressed, blinked and thought that he wanted to eat a big chocolate-topped donut but he was sure Duo would like something like cakes instead of his daily donut-breakfast, and almost regretted it that he had stopped at a cake-store instead.

"…good enough?" he asked flatly but staring the satisfied En's face before him with large eyes.

"Mou yoi…!" the boy repeated, nodding a couple times.

"So, what was Duo's emergency, again…?" Wu Fei asked while his mind pointed that he didn't really need to be praised as a good-boy by a boy.

"Us!"

"Them…!" the boys and Quatre said in the same time.

"Okay. May I have a drink, Quatre?" Wu Fei turned his head at Quatre.

"I don't think the tea is poisoned, Wu Fei…!" Quatre decided that he was allowed to be a little sarcastic at the moment, and pointed that Soleil had made him a cup of tea as well and it was nicely steaming on the table before him, if only he would ignore the mini-Heero's face in front of him for a moment.

"…and eventhough I have asked you politely…!" Wu Fei pointed back.

"Do you have to be so formal with it?" Quatre retorted, but complied walking to the fridge to get Wu Fei a colder drink which he could chug down in seconds compared to a cup of hot steaming tea.

------------

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……saru got another comics deadline –is happy but couldn't write more fic-


	4. list 4: don't kill each other

**The future never lies 'gaku 19 nov, 09**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's……too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…maybe undignified silliness, some adult issues coming ahead_

**4. List # 4: don't kill each other over the (stupid) remote control **

"No, I don't think that's possible…!" Quatre frowned to his laptop screen, there were several windows he had on the other side of his vid-link and it seemed that he was somewhat outnumbered in voice. "If they want to find other sponsors to avoid the merging, then let them try it; once they realized no one would take the risk, we could up our price…!" the people in their windows spoke in the same time and Quatre shook his head slowly in exasperation.

Massaging the knot between his brows, Quatre spoke with final tone; "I have other things to mind; if the company would lose a couple millions or a couple hundred millions while I'm not looking; then, it's fine by me! If you couldn't afford to lose your cocktail money, then, work on it!" he said while closing his eyes in exasperation; there was a sudden '……' in unison at his outburst and the gaping people, namely his clients and some co-workers, blinked together once and then stared wide eyed.

"I apologize for my tone- thank you for being available for the sudden meeting- good evening gentlemen!" and Quatre closed his link. Several minutes later he was still frowning deeply at the darkened screen of his laptop, staring at his own frowning reflection.

------------

Duo jerked to wake, he didn't realize when he had fallen asleep; his right leg was asleep too while his left one was currently being tortured by pins and needles. He moaned his complaints and carefully stretched his legs, grimacing at his leg cells' complaints popping in and out everywhere his nerves decided to eventually wake up.

"…'shouldn't sleep sitting…!" he mumbled to the air of the small closed room. "What's the time…" he checked his watch and his brow twitched. "Passed nine…?! I missed the 'Sarucchi's Trip Collections'…!"

Duo sprang onto his feet, mentally ignoring his leg cells screaming in unison, and got out from his refuge room and awkwardly limping to the couch in the living room in a hurry. He missed seeing Heero balled in the corner of his usual alcove at the side of the sliding wall.

Quatre lifted one brow at Duo's entrance; his long braid was undone and he was wearing only his shorts, it was because his small hide out didn't have sufficient leeway and it would feel too hot in the summer to be in there for a long time, or when he was fuming in it. Duo nonchalantly threw himself onto the couch, ignoring Quatre's eyes still on him since he was at the door of the bedroom; searched for the remote control on the lower level of the table and turned the TV on, and looked annoyed when his channel didn't air his must-see show.

"What the…?" Duo reflexively tried other random channels and frowned at the news euphoria about some alien's landing site that was aired in every channel.

"What the hell is that about…?!" Duo turned his face at Quatre, frowning. Quatre blinked, he almost thought that Duo had ignored him intentionally.

"…People's euphoria?" the blond tried. "That hole could fit five Gundams in it, you know?"

"…and so?" Duo stared at the TV back with accusing eyes, uncaringly throwing the remote to the other end of the couch and crossed his arms and legs. Quatre momentarily had a flash of the Wu Fei-thoughtful-monkey at his figure.

"What?"

"Nothing…" Quatre shook the mental image and put his things back into his briefcase.

"Wu Fei brought you some shortcake, they're in the fridge."

"Wu Fei was here?" Duo stared at Quare. "And he went back already?"

"He's out shopping some groceries for your fridge…" Quatre offered.

"Why…?"

"Aside for the fact that your fridge is empty except for a carton of plain milk which is almost empty by now…? I guess because we will need a lot of storage if we want to try having a civilized life; they said family's cooked in the kitchen, right?" Quatre said smiling at the TV screen, but he frowned at his choice of words; "….hmmm, perhaps it was 'brewed' not 'cooked'…!"

"_We_…?" Duo had the most open suspicious grimace Quatre ever saw, and he instinctively wanted to pat Duo's back, but he refrained.

"Yes, 'we'… I thought I might stay for awhile and see to the situation here myself. You don't mind, do you?"

Duo made a series of breathing goldfish mouth with his lips, and as he seemingly concluded the situation by himself, his expression changed to one of anger. "They're _staying_…?!"

"Wu Fei, too…"

"Wu –why?!"

_Wu Wai…? That sounds like another Chinese name_; Quatre coughed to stop his surfacing giggle.

"You seem like you could use some allies on your side, Duo…!" Quatre said softly.

"You were _not_ on my side earlier…!" Duo accused.

"I could fill in for you." Quatre simply offered, and that made Duo shut up.

"………then take them with you…!" Duo said after a long pause.

"They came here to live with the both of you, not with me, Duo…" Quatre pointed.

"No permission from me!" Duo stated as final.

"They said Heero gave his permission…!" Quatre lifted his shoulders, and ignored Duo's teeth-baring directed at him.

Duo jumped from the couch and trudged to the bedroom; Quatre stared at his leave, and actually was hoping that Heero and Duo would have another fight, that way he could see for himself their mechanism and hopefully he could straight the problem out. At the time Duo threw open the door panel roughly, but he jumped forward to catch the handle again awkwardly, seemingly because he didn't want the door to bang on to the wall with a loud noise; Quatre smiled at his antics, his heart felt relieved for now, Duo loved Heero, they just needed to communicate better. Duo killing Heero was way beyond impossible, …he hoped.

Duo sighed as he managed to stop the door panel at the last millimeters away from the wall; he turned his head and was relieved when he saw Heero was still sleeping in his alcove undisturbed, he tiptoed and squatted in front of him and watched him for some time. Using his right palm, Duo stroked the brown head once, leaving his hand on Heero's head. It took exactly 2 seconds for Heero to wake by a gentle caress, Duo noted, it didn't change from the war time. A sudden ignorant touch could wake him up almost instantly; anyone who thought that Heero's peaceful sleeping face was docile paid enough consequences for their ignorance.

_Heero's peaceful sleeping face_… Duo blinked; Heero looked peaceful because he didn't dream when he slept, Dr. J made sure that he would never have nightmares that would put any set back to his performance as a soldier and a killing machine after the incident with that little girl and her puppy.

"…Duo?" Heero was staring at Duo's distant eyes staring at his face, Duo's hand was now cupping his side of face and casually stroked with his thumb. It sometimes made Heero felt as if Duo was treating him like a pet.

"You found my key…" Duo smiled sadly.

Heero frowned a little; something flashed in his eyes but instantly pulled back before Duo could read it. "You're not angry now…?"

Duo pulled his hand and crossed them on his knees, "…You think?" he stared Heero with wide eyed.

Heero stared his open stare for some moment; "…I'm sorry!" he said softly.

"You're always apologizing!" Duo accused suddenly, and Heero held his breath at Duo's sudden turn.

What Duo meant was that Heero always apologized first, whether it was really his fault or -mostly- Duo's, before they could sort out their problem and so shut it with his apology; some problems were not meant to be solved with a word but with acts. But Heero didn't seem like he cared about that fact, and Duo's anger always turned his words the wrong way, most of the time against himself. His heart realized it when he saw Heero's eyes hardened momentarily before that dismissal etched in them.

"You taught me to…!" Heero turned his face from Duo and stood up. The soldier Heero never apologized back in the war time, even when he had come to kill Duo in that OZ prison.

Heero stopped from leaving when Duo grabbed his hand, he looked back and countered Duo's saddened eyes as he was still squatting on the floor; he was the one looking like a lost kitten, Heero thought. They stared each other for some time; when Duo released his hand, Heero continued to walk out of the bedroom. They're not communicating, he knew, but he intended to give Duo that part to do, since Duo seemed like he could communicate with everyone… except him, an aching voice in his chest pointed.

"Where are they?" Duo heard Heero asked Quatre about the boys, and his anger, mostly jealousy, turned back. Jealous; not because he really thought that Heero saw them like _that_, but because Duo was still in the phase where he wanted to monopolize Heero for himself, as he was still in hunger for him, eventhough sometimes he felt like a vulture fighting over some bits and remnants of what was once a humane creature; he was still not prepared for children (knowing that they're both males and definitely both of them couldn't get pregnant even if they wanted it), especially the ones he knew nothing of and didn't expected before.

Quatre was in the middle of sipping his fourth cup of tea; he paused with the cup still attached to his lips. After swallowing once, Quatre answered. "They are out with Wu Fei to buy some groceries…!"

Heero knew the blond was swallowing more of his nervousness than his tea, he decided he didn't want to trouble him any more than they already were. "Wu Fei was here?"

"He wanted to ask why you suddenly called for sick leave…"

"Figured; we're in the middle of a mission…!" Heero didn't elaborate more, and Quatre looked like he already understood the rest of the conversation.

Heero stared at the muted TV screen, and Quatre back to his sorting company files on his laps. "Where do you think all those things went off to?"

"What things?" Quatre asked reflexively.

"Materials…"

"Materials?" Quatre decided that he had to see what brought Heero to suddenly ask that question; the TV showed some scientists and agents and experts who were _POKING_ at the crater's surface with some armaments. Quatre frowned at the sight.

"You mean the things that vanished after they exploded?"

Heero answered with silence.

"I don't know… vaporized, may be? You know, like the phrase 'vanish into thin air' thing?" Quatre grimaced at his own explanation; it's lame, alright, he admitted that much.

"Why do you ask?" he stared at Heero's thoughtful face, which was almost as plain as Trowa's excited face when he was face to face with Dorothy's challenging smile.

"If it was organic, like human materials, do you think it could be reconstructed into the same thing again like before it blow up? Something like the teleporter-thing in that old space-journey movie Duo used to watch?"

"What…?" Quatre asked skeptically, he knew where that question came from; say, since it seemed like one of them had the tendency to bait the perpetrators to blow him up into thin air. "I don't know, Heero…" Quatre rather choose to not finding that out, and silently suggested Heero to not actually try it out by himself.

They sat in silence after that, eyes still watching the TV screen although their minds were else where; about 10 minutes later Duo walked out of the bedroom wearing his shorts and a discolored T-shirt. A towel wrapped around his head, with some locks of wet hair sticking out of the fluffy cloth; a purse of hair brushes in his left hand. He dropped himself beside Heero, making a relatively loud puff-noise, and took the remote from Heero's hand with his right hand.

Heero took the purse from Duo's hand while he cursorily switched the channels and used his now free left hand to rub the towel to dry his hair, letting Heero brushed it with the comb to loose the knots.

Quatre stared at them with amusement; so they didn't have miscommunication when they didn't communicate. He blinked and turned to the TV screen when both objects of his amusement felt his gaze and stared back. "The Preventers are going to be even busier…!" he commented loosely, just to pinpoint his friends' stares at something that was not him. "Sooner or later someone would suspect that it was made by some kind of weaponry…" He was relieved when two pairs of eyes turned from him to the TV.

"I think they already have…!" Heero said.

"Any face you're familiar with, Heero?" Quatre asked.

"That was the President of the Anti-Extraterrestrial Society's face that was interviewed before this goon who's saying that he'd love to see _our-relatives from out there_…" Duo commented nonchalantly; all of them could read lips so they didn't have to hear some lame interviews and news.

"The what…?" Quatre sweat-dropped.

"The ÆS, you never heard of them? They're the orthodox teaching's-, which believed that humans should stay on earth, for example -followers who are against the Colonies' life style in outer space…"

"Life style…" Quatre's brow arched.

"It's _life style_ for them, not _life_…!" Duo lifted his shoulders.

"You know them…?" Quatre's question was loosing its interest.

"You don't?" Duo's brows arched in disbelief. "You never had their objection mails or any sorts of things from _them_…?!"

Quatre had a feeling that he didn't really want to find out the rest of it.

"When they found out that the Preventers' agents are mostly people who were involved with outer space, be it ex-soldiers, scientists, ex-Colony citizens, et cetera, they overloaded our computers with e-mails and craps that Lady Une had me made some Zero-level firewalls…" Heero left it at that.

"Oh…!" Quatre was feeling more for those stupid people when it involved with the words 'Heero' and 'Zero'. "But you're not making AIs that could one day have a thought of itself to conquer the world, right?" he just wanted to make sure.

"No, it was just a hibernating type of virus that would infiltrate the perpetrator computer's system and manipulate them depends on their level of offense."

"It's an AI, then, Heero…!" Quatre sweat; Heero glanced at him, and ignored him all the same after that. Duo was silently chuckling.

By then, just as Quatre thought that the air had somewhat melted, the three-storms came knocking by the door.

------------

En stared widely and the plump lady at the counter grimaced while uncaringly chewing her bubblegum. "Don't stare, Nii-san, it's impolite…!" Soleil whispered at his side, eventhough he was also staring at the lady from the end of his eyes. The woman made a wider grimace at them and looked back at the counter machine, Wu Fei pretended that he didn't realize the exchange, paid her the bill and picked the grocery bags in both hands.

"Boys, we are leaving…!" he called without looking back, knowing that the boys are following behind him; next, he didn't show it that he knew the boys are walking out backwards as they were still staring at the plump lady who was now blowing her bubblegum as big as it could and she was satisfied enough when they jumped at the sound of the bubble popping, the gum covered almost the whole of her face including some of her bushy hair as she made a menacing expression and the boys ran out as if they've seen a monster.

"Cute impolite brats…!" she chuckled dryly once the automatic doors closed.

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Wu Fei frowned at the lime green porsche parked at the side of the road to the almost rundown apartment building, the streetlight blinked on and off letting out the charging sound above it; he looked around and thought that there wouldn't be anyone who pick that deserted neighborhood to steal things. Wu Fei humph-ed and fought his way through the verdure of the building's front yard.

When he grabbed the front door handle he felt a short charge of electricity stung his palm; Wu Fei reflexively let the rusty metal handle go and looked behind, made a face at the lime green car across the front yard, and decided he should go in whether he liked it or not. Behind him two pairs of eyes stared at his back unblinking; Wu Fei stared them down behind one shoulder, Soleil blinked at him from behind the grocery bag he insisted to carry which was almost as high as his eye level.

"When we reach your fathers' floor, go hide somewhere…!" Wu Fei said with a serious air, conveying with his eyes that he wouldn't take 'no' as answer.

The boys blinked and nodded once together; on their way up, they stared at each other questioning the situation, but Soleil decided that they better followed their orders for now and assessed the situation.

Wu Fei knocked the door with his foot, the sounds of commotion inside the apartment stopped for a moment; when the door opened from the inside he countered a grimacing teeth-baring Duo's face that was ready to kill himself or some respectable targets inside; when he leered at Wu Fei, the Chinese knew that his manic friend chose _the respectable targets_ instead of himself. Wu Fei frowned at him, giving him silent warning that he couldn't just shoot citizens out of fury; that'd be criminal act.

Duo che-ed and gave way so that Wu Fei could enter.

Wu Fei humph-ed silently and readied himself to face the storms as all pairs of eyes stared at him, he decided if he hide behind the grocery bags he would look stupid, so he said a short hello and walked to the kitchen counter. As he disappeared behind the beads curtain to the kitchen, he grimaced when the storm of screeches started again in the living room.

Heero didn't bother to massage his throbbing head anymore, he was sitting perfectly on the chair that was facing the door and distantly staring at the closed door panel as if counting the time to press his self-destruct button anytime, somewhere between some tens minutes ago he had decided that his eardrums had retreated into his throat and thus he shouldn't utter a sound, or he would get permanently deafened after this. Quatre took shelter in a corner saying that he had some office things to do in his laptop but was actually playing some mini-game to distract his mind from the raging storm.

While Duo was, sitting on the chair across Heero's seat with his back to the door, currently hoping that he was allowed to just at least lift the table in front of him and use it to paste the three-storms sitting on the couch.

"Duo are you listening?!" came Hilde's delirious voice between the haughty tone of Dorothy's saying something about the roles of men in the wide aspect of humankind's life purpose as in relation with the existence of the universe and its sole purpose to _be_ –or something…-, and Relena's rant about decency and norms and some things about the essence of reproduction purpose and something tangled with how cute the children in the city's orphanage were and there were still so many mischievous things and unlucky people in the world and Colonies and such.

"What are you doing…?" Wu Fei frowned when he had finished putting the groceries away.

"WU FEI…!!!" three screeches in unison and three index fingers were pointing at him, and he stopped abruptly on his track to the living storm -…err, room- and almost regretted that he didn't choose to stay in the kitchen while he could have made himself a nice steaming cup of hot chocolate or something else from the grocery he'd bought.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US – (ABOUT) (THAT) (THINGS AS) (BLAH BLAH BLAHH)….?!!" And the girls started together but voicing their complaints in the same time again that their words couldn't be heard one by one anymore.

Wu Fei put his hands up in a calming gesture, "Ladies, could you please state your REAL reasons to be barging in here –one person at a time, please?!" he instantly cut when the girls were about to speak together again. "Who's first?" and his brow twitched when three hands lifted in the same time, and decided to take the situation into his hands eventhough they might grill him alive once they realized that he was acting like facing 2nd-grade elementary school girls (and made them act like ones). "Relena?"

Relena had a childish excited expression when her name was called first, but it soon changed into a flushed girly shy face when she tried to look like she wasn't glancing at Heero from the end of her eyes; "ummm… I was wondering whether Heero would-"

"Too long. Hilde?" Wu Fei stared at the short haired girl, ignoring Relena's not so feminine exclamation: "What?!"

"Doujin…!" Hilde said matter of fact-ly. Wu Fei decided he should skip the subject for now, and turned to Dorothy.

"Dorothy?"

"Letters!" she said self assuredly with a despotic smile.

"What letters?" Wu Fei's frown got deeper.

Then the three girls extended their right hands, each had a folded piece of paper in a sealed plastic they used to seal evidence away, there were some printed writings on them. Wu Fei bent down to look at the papers and his left brow shot up while his right one was still frowning.

"What letters are those?" Wu Fei asked slowly, unnecessarily making sure his words could be heard one by one.

"You tell us!!" the girls said with accusing tone.

Relena's letter was written with a journal-poem that a child would make about his/her school life, only it was inserted with some gory descriptions, such as '…my history teacher put a stick through my desk-mate's head to show us what the astronauts did with the flag pole when they first landed on the moon…' or '…Ms. Chain found the cafeteria cook's thumb in her salad and said that she could use a free piece of meat and ate it with a crunching noise…' and other disturbing things. While Hilde's was a fan-letter to the doujin-club she secretly hosted using some nicknames in the internet (that was actually administrated by the three of them, using Relena's spare time when she wasn't busied with politics, and Dorothy's when she decided to have some business); there were only several lines of simple sentences separated with wide spaces down. 'we l**O**ve your **W**orks. w**0**rks is good. You are n**0**t.' There were some mistakes with the spells and writing in it.

"Seemed like you found yourselves a psychopath fan to your doujin-arts…!" Wu Fei frowned; at that Hilde humph-ed dignifiedly.

The letter in Dorothy's hand was a notification about the children born from the letter recipient's eggs, and that the recipient received the letter because it was stated in the contract letter that the recipient is to be informed when there are children born from her egg. At that Wu Fei made a most skeptical face he could make; "You became a donor, Dorothy?"

"Hell, no!" Dorothy barked, momentarily loosing her freakish smile; and Hilde snickered at that.

Dorothy snapped her face at Hilde who was sitting in the middle, and the other girls handed her their letter obediently. "Look at them like this!" she put the letters together and indicated Wu Fei that he should see them under the light.

When Wu Fei did it, he saw there were some letters that changed colors as they fused under the light, most of them turned into red but there was also blue and green. "Nice trick…!" he commented nonchalantly, hiding his surprise as the colored letters read:

**yOu Will diE sOon**

**001 002**

"So, have you checked these to a forensic lab?" he returned the letters to the girls.

"Yes, they found finger prints…!" Hilde said with something flashed in her eyes.

"They know whose finger prints those were?" Wu Fei wanted to object about the way the girls were staring him, but didn't voice it.

"Yours, Wu Fei!" Hilde said flatly.

"What?!" Wu Fei asked incredulously.

"I said, if one of us would kill them, they'd be dead before they received those lame letters…!" Duo quipped; "Especially Miss Deathwish here who has an eyecatching pink limo…!" he continued with a sweet tone but his grin showed too much teeth.

"I've passed that phase, Duo…!!" Relena turned beet red and scowled.

"Well then, you shouldn't have had created a doujin-club about the Gundam pilots and their lives so you wouldn't be targeted by some psycho-maniacs, in the first place…!" Duo pointed out, "Probably some psyched-victims of the war themselves, or their families…." Duo's words lost its sarcastic tone at the end.

"We DIDN"T create it, Duo! They've just gathered by themselves in the net, and we thought we should organize them before the contents got out of our hands; I saved your BRAID too, Duo!" Hilde said hotly.

"Just because there are a lot of rabid fan-girls to the idols or celebs, there shouldn't have to be fandom to Gundam pilots as well…!" Duo lost his temper.

"It didn't change the fact that I saved YOUR BRAID, Duo…! Do you know what rabid fan-girls could do when they're determined to stalk their targets? I gave them false description about you, you know?! Or would you rather those ÆS goons chased your tail as well?!" Hilde fumed too.

"I OBJECT DEPICTED TO HAVE SEX WITH LADY UNE!!" Duo hit the table. Dorothy snickered, while Wu Fei choked, Heero's veins popped out on his temples.

"They made…w-hat?" Wu Fei lost his breath. Relena giggled behind her feminine covering hand.

"Oh, don't tell me THEY never showed ANYthing to you, Wuffee… I'd might get thrilled with their concern for me…!!" Duo said with sarcasm.

"It's not you, Duo; how many times must I said it?! It's '02' in the doujin…!" Hilde said exasperated, making a dramatic forehead slap.

"Mostly they're too far fetched from reality,…" Dorothy began; "Irrational, you mean?" Duo mumbled, but she ignored him. "But sometimes we could have some information that were not so made up as well, you see…!"

"So tell me, Heero…" Dorothy's forked brows twitched in excitement. "Do you have a twin brother or sister?"

Heero's eyes focused instantly, and he side glanced at the blond girl. "No."

"How about kids?" she smiled wilder, Wu Fei's breath skipped.

"No." Heero answered with the same tone.

"No, you don't know that, do you, Heero…?" her forked brows twitched again. "Perhaps someone made a test-tube out of your DNA and made your clones somewhere?" she sweetened her tone drastically that Duo shivered reflexively hearing it.

"Why do you think that?" Heero asked flatly.

"Because it's signed _double-zero one_ and _double-zero two_…" Dorothy left it hanging and she saw something in Wu Fei's eyes.

"So, you know why those were your finger prints left on the letters, Wu Fei?" she turned to a seemingly uninterested Wu Fei, but she knew it was an act.

"Perhaps the perpetrators took the papers from my desk." He stated simply but he was frowning in disagreement, about the situation, generally; not about his own words. "From the office or my house….-I need to change the lock, then…!" he stared at the letters as if they were something foul.

"Do your doujin-club members know about your identities?" Duo asked flatly.

"Of course, not! If they knew the world's Prime Minister organized a doujin-club with such content, the pres would be running around in fire and torch people up…!" Hilde looked offended.

"THAT you realized…!" Duo accused; in her seat, Relena was giggling silently, but stopped when Duo stared at her with murderous stare; she cleared her throat to dismiss him.

"What's so interesting about drawing some people having imaginary sex with others, I wonder…!" Duo mumbled.

"Ha! Don't tell me boys don't imagine girls having sex with each other and enjoy reading such stuff…!" Hilde mumbled too.

"I SO NOT enjoy _that_…!!" Duo pointed his finger at Hilde with disgust; he was already half standing above his seat.

"Well, you might enjoy some stuff about '01' and '02' together, and actually _learn_ something new, then!!" Hilde said hotly; at her left side, next to Duo's chair, Relena blinked and her cheeks flushed a little. "She enjoyed it!" Hilde nonchalantly threw that to the world's Prime Minister.

"WHAAAT?!!" Duo and Relena sprang to stand together, and their screeches heard like a performance of a road-kill choir. -thunk- Quatre's laptop fell from his lap; he mumbled a silent 'sorry…' with inflamed cheeks as all eyes directed at him, and picked it up carefully.

"…You know what, Duo… It's addicting making some doujin because some people dreamt about other versions of reality; it's not just consisted of _mature-contents_, ya'know…?!" Hilde said childishly.

"Other versions of reality…, right!" Duo nodded skeptically.

"As I said, you won't find good facts in the news, but in the gossip shows…!" Dorothy cut; "There is a new uploaded work that's depicting about your house-life, Heero…!"

"Yeaa-right, -wearing pink frilly apron and nothing else underneath!" Duo rolled his eyes, and Relena gasped and gave him _the look_. "…I crossed the picture when I was browsing for my client's case, Princess!" Duo grimaced. Relena mumbled her disappointment.

"Don't tell me that was your doing…!" Duo bent his upper body to her, squinting as if he was interrogating her.

"No, but it was one of my favorites…" Relena admitted shyly with a low voice; "So, do you have frilly aprons…?" she smiled.

"………no!" Duo said. "And Heero doesn't have black hair, too, just because he's Japanese!"

"That's why we're telling you that we're giving the doujinka false descriptions about you!" Hilde said exasperated.

"Enough with doujin. How about the reason you're _here_?!" Heero scowled.

"The work about your house-life, Heero; it said that you have little-clone-brothers…!" Relena said.

"So?!" Heero's scowl got darker.

"It said that he was made from your DNA…" Hilde said.

"…and that he would destroy the city…" Relena continued.

"…if you are judged as not having a civilized life…" Hilde's voice again.

"…with a little-clone-brother of Duo's…" Relena's said.

"…who came from outer space!" Dorothy ended.

This time Quatre's laptop made a longer and noisier clattering sound as it fell and rebounded before sliding on the wooden floor in spins and hit a standing hanger which also fell with a loud enough crash.

"….ah…… I lost a couple hundreds million in just 2-hours…!" Quatre said with a flabbergasted smile; the others in the silent living room blinked and ignored him.

"So what is that got to do with us that you came here barging in without notice?" Duo asked rather tamely.

"In the doujin's story; Heero…I mean, '01' had to do things from a list to pass their judgement…!"

"Here's the list!" Hilde handed Duo a printed paper, of which Duo read with a frown but no apprehension, Wu Fei noted; he'd been informed enough information about Heero and Duo's situation by Quatre.

"…'skin-ship every morning'? And I thought you were concerned enough that it was not some cheap story filled with mature-content only…!" Duo stared Hilde with mocking eyes and smirk; but Dorothy realized that the other boys had fallen into silence.

"Duo, the '02' in the doujin drawn as a killer…!" Hilde said.

"Well, I'm not…!" Duo said simply. "Who's the victim?" he mocked. Quatre gasped in the room's corner.

"Half the world's population!"

"And what does this doujin got to do with those letters?" Duo asked with a frown.

"The letters are drawn in that doujin, too, Duo. Even before we receive them…" Relena answered.

"So… let me get this right… You're actually leading some psycho-maniac doujin-maker to us?!" Duo asked in disbelief.

"Doujinka…" Hilde corrected. "No, we're here because Wu Fei's finger prints are on the letters!"

Wu Fei tried to look calm when all eyes stared at him. Relena looked like she wanted to say something, while Hilde frowned at him, and Dorothy stared him down like a pest on her orchid plants. And they engaged in the silent-contest for about 10 minutes, while Quatre got game-over multiple times before he decided that he didn't really want to play some mini-game in his laptop in the first place.

At last, Dorothy sighed; "We are not heading towards anything, girls. Let's go home!" she stood up suddenly.

"Just like that?!" Hilde asked with disappointment. Relena stood and followed Dorothy to the door.

"Good night, boys!" Dorothy said before pulling the handle.

"Sorry to bother you, Heero, Duo…!" Relena smiled apologetically and got out.

"Hah! Great! What are we doing here, actually?!" Hilde threw her hands in the air dramatically and ran towards the door. "I know you collect some of our archive, Duo…!" she said from behind the closed door.

The room fell silent once those living-storm gone. Duo sat back and acted like he didn't hear Hilde's last sentence, or like he heard it but acted as if the others didn't.

"You do?" Wu Fei asked out of curiosity.

"The '01' was rather handsome in those works…" Duo said pretending that he didn't say anything.

Then there were two knocks sounding at the door; and the imps came in without needing to hear the answer, with undeniably innocent faces; eventhough En was looking like he was half hiding behind Soleil's back.

"Who were they?" the mini-Duo asked with angelic smile.

"Hmph! Your back-ups, I see…!" Duo sneered darkly, he got the manic Shinigami's smile plastered on his face and Quatre got alerted, while Wu Fei looked fixedly at his every move. But Duo didn't move on his seat.

Soleil took a seat near Duo on the couch, while En took a way round it and sat near Heero. The resemblance of their physical appearances made Wu Fei swallowed his suddenly dry throat; '_Creepy…! It looks like a Halloween's family picture…!_' a voice like his said in his mind.

The silence reigned longer, while each of them tried to look normal or disinterested or not about to explode or go Zero; and there lied the (stupid) remote on the table happily grateful for its usefulness and felt as if it was the love-child of the room's inhabitants and…

-crash- Heero threw the remote control out the now broken round window behind him.

"What is that for…?!" Duo voiced his love for that (stupid) thing; and outside, the poor (stupid) beloved-thing exploded into thin air.

"Korosu…!" Heero said flatly; Duo shut up at his death-glare and sat still with a murderous stare at the boys and a pout at Heero. It looked cute that made Soleil smiled sweetly at him, and of course it baited Duo more; but he seemed like he minded Heero's anger right now, so he did nothing drastic like using the table to paste them into the couch seat.

"I'm going to take a shower!" Heero stood with his soldier move and Duo knew better than to cross him right now.

"We're tagging along, Toucchama…!" Soleil sprang to his feet with a wider cheerful smile on his face, and dragged En by his right upper arm.

Duo gasped and instantly stood, but he caught himself and decided to look like he didn't care; so he plopped down onto his seat again. Quatre decided that he didn't really care that his laptop screen was blinking as if sending a Morse-code of SOS for its damage, and sat on the couch near Duo to just be with him.

"I saw the shortcakes were still in the box. Do you want them now, Duo?" Wu Fei asked still standing on his spot where he was before.

"Yes, Wu… sorry for earlier…" Duo tried a smile but didn't look at Wu Fei's eyes.

"It's okay. My work needs Heero's hands, so I might pest your home for awhile if he had to have a sick leave…!" Wu Fei said lightly.

"Uuugh… don't remind me of work…!" Duo threw his head to the chair backrest. Quatre chuckled, while his dying laptop let out several charging noises and some sparks on the chair at the corner before it died.

------------

"They know something and hiding it…!" Dorothy said behind the wheel.

"Yeahh… I didn't know that Quatre could be so see-through!" Relena sounded disappointed; in the back seat, Hilde snickered at her words.

"Oh, Hilde, stop relating everything with your doujin!" Relena objected; "This is a serious matter…!"

"Alright, alright! I plead your mercy, Queen Arleen…!" Hilde put her hands up together in front of her forehead.

"Don't call my nick outside…!" she warned. Hilde only laughed.

"So, when are we going to stalk them?" Hilde turned to mission-mode with a big predatory grin on her face.

Dorothy smirked at her from the rearview mirror, while Relena giggled on the passenger seat. "I've seen your schedule, Lena; you're full for the next 2 months…!" Dorothy smirked and Relena's face fell.

"Aww… you just have to ruin someone else's party!" she whined.

Hilde laughed, "I'll keep you perfectly informed, my Queen!" she patted Relena's shoulder affectionately.

"Because pink limo is just too eye-catching to stalk someone in…!" Dorothy's smirk got wider.

"I don't have it anymooore!!!" Relena objected with a 5-yeard-old's pout and slumped on her seat with crossed hands childishly. She let her fiendish friends laughed at her and secretly cherished the moment where she was just another ordinary girl with her friends and not some political armament. There was something really going on and she could feel something terrible approaching; the ex-pilots already in it, she knew, or else they wouldn't gather in one's home like that… it was almost like their safe house habit in the war time. The tight air she felt in Heero and Duo's house sent chills down her back when she recalled about it; she had known Heero's do-or-die face since the first time they met on the beach.

"I hope it really is just someone's prank…!" she mumbled to the window glass, her reflection looked more mature than the way she looked like that fated day when she met Heero, but her eyes looked more insecure; she no longer had that childish determination to do something, or pursue someone whom she knew out of reach now. Perhaps it was part of growing up thing.

"We'll try to be save ourselves, then we worry about others. It's the least we could do to lighten others' burden…!" Dorothy spoke silently; Relena didn't thought that her muttered words would be heard, but she was grateful that her friends understood her worries without her needing to spoke it out loud.

"Right; if you're worried that your life is really in danger, Lena, you could pull some strings and appoint Agent Yuy to be your bodyguard anytime…!" Hilde grinned.

"NO…!!" Dorothy admonished before Relena agreed to the idea; Relena's face fell for the second time.

Hilde chuckled happily on her seat, her imaginary demon-tail twitching leisurely on the car seat.

------------

------------


	5. list 7: have family time in public

**The future never lies 'gaku 09 dec, 09**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's……too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…maybe undignified silliness, some adult issues coming ahead_

**5. List # 7: go out and have some family time in public**

Wu Fei stared at the copy of printed paper in his left hand, while sipping the hot black coffee from the beer glass in his right hand. He gulped and blew the black liquid several times, and took another sip.

"……'in public'…?" his face didn't change.

"Perhaps it meant 'in public places' as in '_let's go to an amusement park and fight the lines for rides_'…!" Quatre threw his fried egg and it landed back to the skillet with a loud plop, "That's so Duo, right?"

"You really want them to fight some civilians for some rides in some amusement park…?"Wu Fei asked slowly.

Quatre stared his fried egg sizzled, it was making a loud hiss, and he frowned. "No…!"

"Then, don't…!!" Wu Fei frowned at The List. "Did the future-Duo really have all his bricks in his head when he wrote this?"

"Ask the boys…" Quatre poured some pepper on the egg with his fingers and sneezed out a cute sound (Wu Fei's thought), despite his now mature size.

"I did, they said they don't know since they never really met him…!"

"Yeah? How come…oh!" Quatre figured out the reason fast enough.

"He was already dead when the boys woke up…" Wu Fei voiced out Quatre's thought.

"……and, what should I do with this list? I'm not really in it, right?" Wu Fei took another sip of his coffee, and then there was an:

"AAAAAAAAGGGhhhhh…!!" coming from Heero and Duo's bedroom; and Wu Fei managed to safe his shirt from the spilling coffee eventhough he got a sip through his nostrils and was coughing it out when an unusual-looking and flustered Duo stormed out, banging the bedroom door loud enough to wake the neighbors, which were several levels down stairs.

"WHY, YOU LITTLE CURRRRRhhh…!!" Duo looked enraged enough even without his medusa-looking hairdo.

"Duo…!!" Quatre admonished him about the way he called the boys, but he had to use the skillet to cover his mouth after that.

"DON'T BOTHER HIDING IT, QUATRE, I COULD SEE IT IN YOUR EYES!!" Duo yelled and pointed his finger at him from the bedroom doorway.

Quatre took that as his permission, and he laughed as hard as he could while minding a hot skillet held in front of his face; and Wu Fei tried to sound like he was DEFINITELY coughing instead of laughing his coffee out of his nose.

Duo gritted his teeth and looked even redder then a steamed crab, while Heero frowned behind him, still looking drowsy as if he almost didn't get asleep at all last night.

"You need to learn to communicate better, Duo…! This isn't working…" Heero stated.

"Ha!! And that's coming from you, Mr. Patience?!" Duo used sarcasm and Heero actually looked hurt for a fraction of second.

"At least Toucchama's body language works better then yours, Father…!" A sleepy Soleil was attached to Heero's hip while rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"AND WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR BROTHER WAS DOING WITH MY HAIR…?!" the sight made Duo reeled again.

Soleil frowned at Duo's hairdo and didn't look like he found it funny. "…he tried to learn to braid it; may be he wanted to surprise you that he could braid his hair by himself this morning…!" the mini-Duo stated after analyzing Duo's head and knots of hair that were sticking out everywhere.

"Couldn't he use his own hair for thaaaatth?!!" Duo said through gritted teeth, intentionally showing his fangs; but Soleil didn't seem like he found his fangs fascinating.

Soleil silenced for a few seconds, his face didn't change; "He wouldn't want to surprise you with hair looking like _that_ this morning…!" he said matter-of-factly.

The naïve (sounding) answer made Quatre's and Wu Fei's laughter blew out again, and Duo looked livid again.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" he screamed pointing his finger to the indifferent mini-Duo; then barged to the doorway intending to search for the culprit.

"You wouldn't want to be _seen_ with hair looking like _that_ outside, Father…!" Soleil said flatly.

And Duo stopped, banging his forehead to the door cursing something out over and over.

Heero sighed; "Sit, Duo. I'll loose the knots so you could work outside today…!" Heero already had Duo's brush-set purse in one hand and cued Duo to sit on the living room sofa while he stood behind its back; ignoring Wu Fei who was squatting on the floor and pretending to wipe the floor with the copied paper of The List to hide his laughing face.

"Go find your brother!" Heero said to Soleil.

"Hai…!" the mini-Duo instantly ran into the bedroom and jumped off the window, chasing his fled brother who had used the same exit.

------------

The apartment's backyard was a large space looked like a salvage yard; there were some trees which trunks almost buried by metal junks and something alike. The junkyard owner, which located near the building sometime let the apartment's tenants to take whatever they thought they could use from his salvage; and someone -or some ones- had already a beaver's dam of metal junks piled on the apartment backyard since the first time Heero and Duo decided to take the rent. Perhaps it was left from the war time, when people thought they could save metals and sell them for weapon materials in exchange for food.

"En-nii…!" Soleil stood on the edge of the outcropped metal hill; he could sense En's presence inside the piling junks. Adults wouldn't fit into the cavities, but a small child could crawl in with enough determination.

"Come out before you get hurt in there!"

There was no answer.

"Come on, Nii-san; Toucchama is waiting for us to get a bath together…?" he tried again, crouching down and tried to see his way through the metal pieces.

A series of small hiccups answered him from somewhere unseen in the pile, and Soleil knew he had to get En by himself. Trying to crawl in and minding the protruding metal things was proven not as easy as he thought it would, he wondered how En could get in there since they were about the same size.

"En-nii? I'm coming in…!"

Soleil fought his way into the pile for about 10 minutes, there were some tricky spots blocking his way and he thought that perhaps those metals fell when En pushed his ways in; so he had to clear them a bit if he wanted his brother to get out. He hissed out silently when a piece of rusty metal bar scraped his right cheek and he couldn't avoid a crumpled metal layer from cutting his shoulder to his back as he pushed himself through.

"Aaah…!" En yelped from ahead, and Soleil knew he had felt his wounds too.

"Nii-san, you're hurt!!" and came a panic cry.

"I'm fine, they're just flesh wounds; don't trash around and make these things crumble down…!" Soleil said calmly.

"I'm sorry, Nii-san; I'm sorry…!" En sounded fearful.

"I'm okay, the wounds are closing already. Can't you feel them closing?"

A wet sniffle, "…yes…"

"Good, now help me get rid of this crossing pole so I could get to you!"

En crawled into the cavity and found Soleil midway; they were separated by the crossing pole. "I don't remember this thing blocked my way in…" he said criticizing the rusty thing.

"I'll hold the sides; you break the middle part, alright?" Soleil said holding the pole with both hands.

"…I don't want to go back inside…!" En said with tears trailed down his cheeks. Soleil stilled and wiped his brother's tears with his right hand.

"Why not? Because Papa is angry?"

"Papa hates us!" En said bitterly.

"Papa just needs some time to adapt with us…" Soleil tried.

"NO! We only make Papa and Tou-san fight even more!" En said in frustration.

Soleil smiled, "En-nii, why did we come to this age?"

"To save Papa and Tou-san…!"

"No, we are here to get hurt…!" Soleil said slowly; En stared at him with unreadable eyes, he wiped his tears with the back of his hand, and nodded slowly.

"Right? And why is that?" Soleil asked again.

"…because we don't get hurt at home…!" En answered silently, staring at the dirt ground mixed with some oil and grease.

Soleil nodded, "People get hurt when they live together, but wounds are closing, right?"

En nodded.

"We didn't get hurt, because we didn't have a chance to interact. We were hurt because we couldn't get hurt, weren't we?"

En nodded again.

"So, what are you hurting for now? Tell me so I could make it not hurting…?" Soleil asked gently, but the endearing tone only made En cried again.

------------

Heero tended Duo's hair carefully; he always did, Duo realized. The reason he acted irritable was not because he thought Heero didn't love him back; it was because Duo felt that Heero didn't allow Duo to love him. As if having Duo's anger was part of his karma that he had to accept, as if Duo was his penance. So what if they're all sinners? There were no saints in this world, if there were, they must have never seen the war. Duo too had shared that sin, why wouldn't Heero let himself feel the joy of living? Duo tried, so why wouldn't Heero too?

"…do you think I'd get spilt ends?" Duo frowned at the table; Wu Fei snickered somewhere in the kitchen. Duo made a face towards the kitchen doorway.

"There will be left knot-marks, but I think they're just some bents and all. You could braid it again and the bents will be gone by the time you loose your braid tonight…!" Heero studied seriously. Duo should praise him for not even suggesting to cut some tight knots of small locks.

Duo sighed deeply. "Thanks, Heero…"

"What for?" Heero's hands didn't loose their pace.

"…being with me…" Duo sounded like a child sometimes, despite his body that had grown up even taller than Heero. For some reason, Heero didn't seem like he was growing up at all for that matter.

The usual Heero would answer with his trademark grunt, but this Heero would only stay silent; for more than one time Duo had felt that there were more than one Heero, he kept telling himself that there were someone more human inside the soldier Heero, that's why he felt that way. If only he had the way so that human could get out of Heero's shell; his mind, of course, always telling him that he didn't do it right. It was one of the reasons he was always so frustrated.

There were triple generic knocks sounded on the front door, and Soleil opened the door and let the panel swung wide exposing him and his brother behind him. They stayed outside the entryway waiting to be pleased in. En was, being a little shorter than Soleil, trying to hide himself behind Soleil's back and pretending everyone couldn't notice him there. Soleil had a cheerful smile on his face, sometimes he looked like he was chuckling silently and waiting something happening so he could laugh out loud. Both of them were dirty by oil and grease and dirt.

"You must have left dirty footprints all the way up here…!" Duo criticized with a frown.

Soleil smiled his admission, "Yes, Sir…!"

"What did _you_ do with _your_ hair?" Heero asked slowly. Behind Soleil, En mewled and ducked his head and covered it with both hands.

Soleil's laughter brayed out eventually.

Duo stared with a sour face, Quatre and Wu Fei hurriedly came from the kitchen to see what would happen; mostly due to curiosity.

"Is that kind of a variant Rasta style?" Wu Fei asked just because he wanted to break the odd silence.

"Only the top?" Quatre asked genuinely curious; "Like Miss Liberty…!" he was serious about his comment too.

Soleil chuckled, "He said he could reach only that part since Papa held him tightly last night…!"

Duo blinked to that, he was used to holding Heero when they sleep; and the boys slept behind Heero's side, so if one of them moved to his side when he'd fallen asleep he thought he probably would automatically hold him thinking it was Heero. Besides, much to his disturbance, he must admit it that Heero's and En's smells were similar. A part of his subconscious must have thought of En as a small-Heero.

"I did?" Duo gave a sour look, ignoring Quatre's frown directed at him. "Why mine?" Duo asked slowly pointing at his own hair, intending to give them the warning to not touching his hair again.

En mumbled something unintelligence on Soleil's shoulder, still hiding his face, or more like hiding his eyes from everyone.

"He likes your hair, Papa…!"

"He never touched someone else's hair before!" -that was, someone else's hair which was that long, but Heero thought everyone could catch it.

Soleil and Heero said in the same time; Soleil had an unreadable satisfied looks when he glanced at Heero, and didn't seem like he felt that he was caught lying.

"He touched Heero's before!" Duo didn't seem like he heard Soleil's words, or just down right ignored it.

"Touching mine is almost like touching his own…!" Heero stated.

"You actually felt that way?" Duo turned his head behind and gave Heero a disgusted look. "Touching him is almost felt like touching yourself?!"

It was not touching as in that kind of _touching,_ he didn't know why Duo would get upset over such simple detail. "I'm sorry…!" Heero just wanted to end the fight before it explode, and perhaps his mistake was that he didn't try to put the fire down first.

"So you admit it?!" Duo stood up.

Heero turned his head to the boys, "Come here so I could fix your hair, too!"

"Don't ignore me, Heero!"

Heero turned to Duo with a generic flat look on his face; he stared him for about 5 seconds, while Duo waited for his reaction. "You have work today; unless you want to take the bath together?"

Duo widened his eyes, he couldn't believe that Heero got so fast siding with the boys and left him out. If Heero had asked him nicely, he thought, he could try to get civilize with them; but Heero already thought of him as the antagonist against the boys, right?

Quatre saw Duo's shoulders sagged, and he calmed down his breathing. There was a childish pout on his lips as he stared Heero's face ignoring him as he tended En's hair who was standing in front of him near the door. When Duo turned around to get to the bedroom to use their bathroom, Quatre saw Duo's eyes were somewhat wet.

Duo took a fast bath and prepared his things in the study in a hurry; he wore his long jacket and went to the door. "I'm not coming home tonight!" he said as he disappeared by the corridor.

"Be careful" Heero said simply. It might sounded flat and uncaring, but Quatre knew Heero cared; he thought Duo knew it too, he was just still angry about things and himself for being angry in the first place.

"Wait, Duo. I'll give you a ride…!" Quatre ran after him, clutching a meal box with lunch he had prepared for Duo and himself.

Wu Fei stared at the door for a while then continued spreading his work papers and laptop on the living room table, waiting patiently for Heero to finish his busyness before he could fill in about the mission they were working.

"Papa is angry at you too, Tou-san?" En asked with a small guilty voice.

"I can loosen hair knots…!" Heero left it at that. Wu Fei smiled at hearing it, albeit a bit sadly, he thought Heero meant that he could fix hair knots but he couldn't fix relationship knots.

"What were you trying to do, knotting hair like this?" Heero asked; En's face turned beet red and Soleil chuckled on the chair.

"Papa used it for charm…" En answered with a hesitant tone.

"Charm?" Wu Fei's interest piqued.

"Papa used to have…" En turned to his brother a couple of times seeking help explaining. "…some locks multiple-knotted here…" he pointed down his sideburns; "He said it's like maintaining someone's heart with yours…"

"How many knots you could keep, that's how many times you could withstand your relationship through hardships…!" Soleil made it simpler.

Heero and Wu Fei stared for some time.

"He made that up, didn't he?" Wu Fei asked. "Perhaps that was from that Japanese custom of tying wishes wrote on papers to bamboo branch, Heero?"

Or perhaps he had some ideas from the manga he read; Heero arched his shoulders. "Done. Don't do that again…!" he stated. En nodded once.

"If you want to braid it, ask me to teach you!" Heero frowned with a criticizing stare.

"Please teach me, Tou-san…" En said looking at his hands, with a nice flushed hue on his cheeks. Wu Fei thought that the boys were actually cute; they just needed some ones to guide them.

"Bath?" Heero asked while walking to the bedroom.

"Ofurooo!!" Soleil sprang from the chair and caught up with Heero, snatching En's hand in the way and dragged him along.

"It's not a furo!" Heero stated.

Wu Fei shook his head and stared back at his papers; by then his laptop bleeped giving notification of an incoming e-mail.

------------

Duo propped his head with a hand rested on the window, staring outside as the trees passed by in generic green and dark color of trunks; flowers are already wilted and dried, soon it would be too hot for him to wear layers of clothes to hide his equipments underneath. His mind was elsewhere and he knew he wanted to think about his life with Heero instead thinking about his life without Heero.

"…so…" Quatre tried to break the silence, "You're working on a case now, Duo?"; another car honked him from behind and Quatre let it passed them, a teenage girl on the car's passenger seat laughed at him and threw a still smoking cigarette butt at his windshield.

Quatre smiled and turned the wiper on to get the cigarette butt off, and caught the smoking thing as it flew beside his window and crushed it with his fingers.

"Aren't you mad being treated like that…?" Duo asked with a disturbed frowned.

"What for? She's just a teenager, Duo…"

"You're still a teenager too, Quat…!" Duo made a grimace; realizing some parts of them didn't think of themselves as teenagers anymore. They were forced to grow up even faster and did thing most grown ups wouldn't choose to do if there were other options in their hands.

"Ummh… yeah?" Quatre smiled wider.

Duo sighed through his nose; "I got some surveillance job and whatnot…!" he decided to skip the frustrating subject.

"Taking photos and such?"

"Yeah, you know the drill…!" Duo arched one shoulder and continued staring outside his window.

"What's bothering you about the boys?" Quatre dared himself hoping it wouldn't turn Duo's anger at him.

Duo silenced for about 5 minutes or so; when Quatre thought he wouldn't answer, Duo said with almost a boring tone. "I couldn't win against them…"

"Winning what?" Quatre glanced at him and back to the road.

"Heero…"

Quatre took a pause and said, "…it's not like Heero put you to compete with them, Duo…"

"The boys didn't want to compete with you too; they clearly stated that they want to have a civilize life with both of you and Heero…!" he added as the main idea of what he thought the case was about.

"…right…; you might think I'm being unreasonably childish…" Duo mumbled indifferently; "…but Heero didn't let me get civilized with him most of the time…"

Quatre didn't know what to take of it; he paused and asked again. "Why do you think that?"

"…he didn't want my love… he wanted his blood's love…"

"…his blood? Like family?"

"You never felt that from him?" Duo glanced at Quatre; he knew the blond was trying to hide his nervousness.

"Well… I guess…." Quatre left it at that and Duo thought he didn't want to talk about it anymore, so he stared outside for the rest of the way to his small office downtown.

So Duo kept implying that Heero had _that_ kind of tendency towards the boys because he didn't want Heero to see them as family, Quatre thought; but wouldn't that backfire the worse way?

------------

Wu Fei stared indifferently at the bold letters of his e-mail body:

**YOU WILL DIE FIRST**

It's not his first time receiving such threats so he didn't feel too much about it for now. Closing the window, he went to his papers and actually jumped when Heero asked from behind his chair.

"What was that?"

Wu Fei frowned at the now crumpled papers in his hand; "Damn it, Heero. Don't give me heart attack at this age!"

"There's no signature of the sender like the girls' letters?" Heero ignored his complaint.

"Hmph! You could trace it from the sender address, right?" Wu Fei spread his papers on the table and straightened them with his palms. "Later, please. We have our mission to mind now?" he added.

"It didn't bother you?" Heero asked indifferently.

"I'll add it to your homework; since I had to be adapting to the sleeping bag in your study for these nights to come…!"

Heero snickered at that, patted Wu Fei's shoulder once and turned to the boys lining behind him waited to get dressed.

"You could dress by yourselves…!" Heero stated.

Soleil arched his shoulders with his mischievous smile in tact, while En chuckled satisfactorily behind him. Wu Fei stared at Heero getting them dressed; he noticed En had his mischievous attitude again, perhaps copying his brother's. But he realized the mini-Heero was a little too unstable if it was concerning feelings; it might had developed from growing up without enough interaction with other people, Wu Fei just thought he had to keep an eye on the boy in case it got worse, what with their tendencies to blow up things to oblivion and such. He thought Heero was minding that fact too.

Wu Fei blinked when he felt someone's stare on him, and glanced at Soleil who was watching him with a wider smile; the boy had a mature stare in his eyes sometimes that it unnerved him.

"Quatre had prepared some breakfast…!" he said to the boy, knowing his complexion or body language including his voice didn't betray him for being nervous; but that feeling as if he was being see-through kept growing every time the mini-Duo stared him like that; like facing an old and age-wisened elderly who had experienced everything in his and other people's lifetimes.

"Wouldn't you join us, Fei Oji-chan?" Soleil asked, cocking his head a little to the side like a tame bird; eventhough his eyes were staring sharply like a predator's.

"I still have works, that's what I came here for; I had breakfast with Quatre in the kitchen before…!"

"Tou-san has a lot of works?" En asked Heero with a naïve tone; his eyes were wide and shining between excited and feeling guilty for disturbing.

"We could have breakfast sitting on the sofa and watch Toucchama and Fei Oji-chan work, couldn't we?" Solei sounded like he was asking but the ex-pilots knew he was actually demanding. "We wouldn't want to bother you too much, right, Nii-san?"

En nodded vigorously; Heero was frowning at them, he thought if Soleil really thought that way then they wouldn't have taken the liberty and called a sick leave for him in the first place. So the boy was just pretending to be good and lead his brother's action; a mastermind, just like Duo. Heero didn't really like it, though, despite him putting up with the boys' demands up to this point. This was the reckoning phase he had to go through before he could plan something to get through with all this; if only Duo would cooperate more.

"What about the list?" Heero had to ask his save perimeter.

"It's just guideline…!" Soleil arched his shoulder; En was chuckling beside him, he didn't seem like he was enjoying keeping The List himself. Perhaps he wanted to do more then just what The List told them to. "People evolve; relationships evolve. Just don't evolve on the contrary to that list…" Soleil said leading his brother to the table and took his plate, and filling it with food.

"Yours too, Toucchama?"

"No, I'll have coffee…" Heero answered half paying attention since his mind had automatically divided to his papers when he saw them on the table.

"I'll make it!" En ran excitedly to the kitchen; Soleil watched him disappear behind the swaying beads curtains, and stared at Heero and Wu Fei already engaged in some mission related conversation. They had serious faces and looked more mature than some moments before; "…children of war…"

"You said something?" Wu Fei asked, and Soleil blinked indifferently at both of them when Heero, too, paused and stared at him.

He smiled, "En's having a war with the coffee maker…!" Soleil said calmly. From the kitchen, as if at his cue, came a yelp from a flustered En who had his fingers burnt by the hot liquid.

"Does he need some help?" Wu Fei asked flatly, hiding his concern for that coffee maker since he needed it more than the rice cooker.

Soleil chuckled, "Nah… He'll win!"

"GYAAAAAHH…!!" En screamed, and a splash of steaming coffee splattered across the kitchen doorway and dripped from the beads curtains. Several breath spans later, came a scowling En with a rattling cup of coffee on a shaky tray; making low grunts as the coffee spilled out the cup lid with his every step. "I'm sorry, I'll clean the mess…!" he said scowling at the slobbering cup made a ring of liquid around its base and the saucer on the tray; almost looking like the general garden fountain.

"Don't make more mess…" Heero commented.

"I'll help him later, Toucchama…" Soleil took the liberty and sat on the chair across Wu Fei's, already munching on his breakfast.

"Say your prayer first…!" Wu Fei said off-handedly while typing something on his laptop.

Soleil paused, "Thank you for the meal we are about to eat…" he said fast, made a cross, and smiled at Wu Fei's nod; then munched on his food again. En came with a cup of water in his hands and sat on the sofa near his brother's seat; watching Heero typing something on his laptop near WuFei's chair and practically ignoring the boys.

"Does the coffee maker survive…?" Wu Fei asked indifferently; he had to ask, in case he had to bring his from his place.

En paused sipping his water, his face turned beet red again. "…I'll fix it later…!" he said with a guilty stare on the cup lid.

"Do you want to go outside?" Wu Fei asked again with eyes still on his laptop's screen; knowing there would be three pairs of eyes turned to him.

"You boys can't keep wearing Heero's clothes forever…!" he offered. Three blinks at the same time; En grinned happily and bounced on his seat as agreement, Soleil seemed like he mulled at it and decided that the reason's valid; Heero stilled and stared indifferently at Wu Fei.

He still did it for about 5 minutes later, even after Soleil went to tidy up the table and help En clean up his mess in the kitchen.

"…You mind, Heero?" Wu Fei asked eventually when he thought Heero's system hung; he wondered if he could reset him like a computer, he just hoped he wouldn't push the wrong button.

"……in public?"

"You have problem being in public with them, Heero?" Wu Fei noticed the beads of sweat trailing down Heero's temples. "I'll fill in for you if you do, just complete my parts while I'm out…"

Heero shook himself physically, or was that a shiver? "No. I'll go with the boys…"

"Alright…" Wu Fei agreed when Heero started typing again.

"…just come with me, Wu Fei…" Heero said with a small flat voice.

Wu Fei blinked and paused, and it was his turn to stare at Heero. "Okay…" he answered tentatively when he judged that Heero was actually looking paled at the idea. He would laugh at the fact if he were feeling a little evil or could find the situation as laughable.

------------

So they had chosen a couple of hours before lunch hour to go to the shopping center half an hour's ride from their place, intended to escape midday shoppers; but of course shopping center being shopping center were usually full of people.

"Let's find a quieter little shop…!" Heero said when the front glass door slid opened automatically; while En already ran inside the vast corridor squealing happily, and Soleil tailed him with a calmer pace, taking his time examining the area and some other people along his way.

Wu Fei patted Heero's back and followed the boys in. "Don't run about, you're bothering other shoppers…!" he said to the boys. His loud compose voice attracted some people around them and they chuckled at the boys' antics trying hardly to slow down their paces and tone down their excitements. He knew Heero was still frozen outside the doorway, but he thought Heero wouldn't have problem finding them if they left him behind.

------------

Wu Fei stared, and the salesclerk lady smiled proudly at her work; she had several clothes still with their hangers ready in her hands. And Wu Fei stared some time longer while sitting on the seat near the fitting rooms.

"Well, Sir?" the clerk lady smiled wider; "Would you like other colors instead?" she showed the ones in her hands. "But I think that one fit perfectly like a custom made…!"

Wu Fei had to admit that deep blue and white colored clothes matched En perfectly; "But, Miss…"

En blinked and frowned as the hairpins pulled his hair too tightly.

"…he's a boy!" Wu Fei frowned at the cuteness presented in front of him; the lady even brushed En's long hair and tied it with white lace ribbons matching the laces on the deep blue dress and added some hairpins for more effect. Eventhough she didn't need to do that far.

The lady chuckled to herself; "Really…?" she thought Wu Fei was teasing her.

"Yes…!" Wu Fei pressed with a bothered face.

The lady stopped chuckling abruptly and stilled; "Oh…!" her smile stiffened. "Really?" she repeated flatly, trying to hide her disappointment.

"I like it, Fei Oji-chan!" En grinned.

"No!" Wu Fei frowned at the innocent smiling boy in deep blue dress.

"Eeh? Why nooot?" he whined; the clerk lady sweatdropped and hurriedly went to the boy's clothes area to take some other pieces.

------------

"Fei Oji-chan…!" Soleil sat next to Wu Fei with a basket of T-shirts and pants and a dark green jacket neatly folded.

"Underclothing?" Wu Fei asked. Soleil showed 2 boxes of underwear clamped at his elbow; Wu Fei nodded at him.

"En?" he asked as he sat.

Wu Fei frowned, "Some clerk ladies thought of him as a cute mannequin…!" he said with a bothered tone.

Soleil laughed pleasantly; "…even _you_ couldn't fight some ladies in the shopping center, hu?"

Wu Fei stared at the boy from the end of his eyes; "Who gave you that idea?" eventhough he knew a particular someone who would tease him for such thing.

Soleil smiled while exploring things in the shop with his eyes, "Father…"

"You said he was already…-"

"He left records of him and other people; sometime the records were just of him ranting about things and what-else…!" Soleil chuckled.

Wu Fei realized that Soleil called the future-Duo (and the present) as 'father' when he didn't have En around or not including En in the subject; he called him 'papa' when En was with him. "Heero too?"

Soleil swayed his feet, perhaps to hide his discomfort or nervousness. "We only had one picture of Toucchama; from the war time…! Father was complaining that Toucchama let Father took his photo secretly because Toucchama was waiting for a chance to cannibalize Father's Gundam!" he grinned to that but it looked a bit forced. "So Father saved that one picture…"

"No records?" Wu Fei arched his brows.

"No. Father destroyed them on a whim; there were only records of Father saying his regrets about doing so, sometimes he looked so frustrated about it that he almost killed himself over it…!" Soleil said still in conversational tone, but his eyes casted on the floor now, watching his feet swayed in turns.

"On a whim?" Wu Fei asked.

Soleil arched his shoulders; "Apparently some time after their last fight, where Toucchama left the apartment; Father thought he wouldn't come back anymore, and he was tired of waiting, so he got himself dead drunk and burnt all of the records and tapes and pictures with Toucchama in them. Father said he almost burned himself in the process…!" Soleil chuckled. "At least that's what he said in the records I got later…!"

"The records you got?"

"…yes. En mostly didn't get some of the upsetting records; and I wouldn't want him to find out either…!" Soleil turned staring Wu Fei's eyes. Wu Fei nodded his understanding.

"How's this?" suddenly the clerk lady with a twinkling smile materialized in front of them presenting a frowning En in a cowboy costume, complete with the lasso loop and hat and boots.

"Couldn't you give him a more domestic kind of clothes, Miss?" Wu Fei sweatdropped.

"Why, for such a cute child? That'd be a waste…!" the lady said in a dramatic tone, and at some distance behind her, her co-clerk ladies nodded with her in agreement. En was scowling deeper, and Soleil chuckled.

"I like the red long-dress on the display…!" Soleil raised his hand and said cheerfully. It was a deep red long dress with white lacy layers showed under the red dress, as it opened high from just under the chest line at the back. It had white fur linings and a separated piece of hood with cat ears-like top and long crocheted ornaments down its sides with tasseled ends.

"Yes! And we have many variation colors for that model…!" the lady clapped her hands with full smiling face.

"NO!" Wu Fei said with a final tone.

"Why nooot??" this time Soleil and all the clerk ladies whined in unison. Wu Fei massaged his temples and determined to get Heero for this; wondering why that particular person had yet to show up.

------------

Duo pretended to search through some children shirts hung on the stand, while actually taking pictures with his small camera he had hidden under his sweater sleeve. His object was an old man who was talking with a vendor across the corridor while his men guarded around him, a young man in suit was talking in his cell phone next to him; he looked like a secretary type.

The conversation over the cell phone seemed getting hotter, and the old man continued his walk; he grabbed his secretary's butt while he passed him, and the young man yelped a little and covered his cell phone with his hand as he made a complaint to his boss. The boss was laughing with glee at him.

Duo's jaw nearly dropped witnessing the exchange. Honestly, that wasn't part of the things he was hired to be surveyed for. One of the old man's guards caught his eyes from behind his black glasses and Duo smiled at him calmly, and pretending to see through the hung shirts again. The guard stared at him for some more seconds before following his boss.

"…I'll be damned…!" Duo muttered under his breath, ignoring a pregnant woman stared at him with a weird expression as she was back-pedaling slowly from beside him.

Mingling with other shoppers weren't so difficult too if he didn't curse every time he caught that perverted old man teasing his secretary in such a suggesting way.

"Shit!" Duo cursed for the –nth time in the last 15 minutes, "I should've known the client would want some prove about the goat's affairs with his _male_ secretary, and I thought the case was about his affairs with those women mentioned…!" Duo chewed a gum to calm himself. "In public too…!"

The bodyguard turned around while they were walking, and caught him staring again; Duo cursed in his heart and tried to look around as if he was searching for someone in the crowd. He didn't believe himself he was about that careless today, just because he found that his object of surveillance had an affair with his male secretary… or being cheated by his client about the real reason of the surveillance; it was like he was tricked for saying his report like: 'no, Ma'am, I didn't find proof of your father having affairs with the women you mentioned and corrupting money from the company for them; but I did find proof about his relationship with…-'

"Shit! What am I in, a movie casting with a scenario in hand?" Duo turned into a toy shop and searched in haste; feeling a sharp gaze coming closer behind him.

The bodyguard was entering the toyshop with right hand reaching his gun under his jacket, and duo cursed for ever underestimating the term 'crime lord' in the first place. He didn't want to be engaged in gunfire fights after the war was over, that's why he only took domestic cases.

"I like this one!"

The bodyguard jumped as a boy with a large plastic bag of groceries in one hand suddenly yelled outside the shop pointing at a huge replica of an MS in the display.

"This oooone…!" the boy ran into the shop waving his free hand and grabbed Duo's sweater sleeve and pulled him outside, passing the bodyguard, looking oblivious of the mean looking man stilled on the entryway.

"I told you not to get around by yourself!" Duo said with an admonishing tone.

The bodyguard frowned at them, noticing Duo had a small paper bag with cute prints on it from a gift shop in one hand, and the resemblance between him and the boy who was ranting about the good thing about having children playing sophisticated toys and not just junks made from plastic that was mixed with some formaldehyde and so on; and decided he got false alarm and hurried back to his position before his boss left his current location.

Duo glanced at the man's reflection from the shops' display windows, watching him said something to his partners and pointed at him with his head; the gang moved on after that. He sighed, and loosened up his tight shoulders. "Thanks, I'm saved…" he mumbled.

Soleil smiled staring him from his reflection. "You need some help with work?"

"No!" Duo frowned, a little déjà-vu about the feelings he had on L2 flashed, and he forced down his shiver. "Where's your brother?" his tone sounded irritated, he didn't think the boys are tailing him but they could be, right?

"With Fei Oji-chan, still in the clutches of some thrilled clerk ladies who were fighting over which clothes to fit on him after the last ones…!" Soleil chuckled with an evil gleam in his eyes; staring satisfactorily when Duo's disturbed face fell and changed with a paled knowing expression, a flash of sympathy in his eyes.

"…oh!" Now there was the shiver he couldn't hold back, Soleil noted.

"Heero?" Duo's tone lost his sting.

"Guarding the entryway at the front gate…!" Soleil answered matter-of-factly, and Duo stared else where with a sweatdrop.

Soleil cocked his head, "You need help with work?" he repeated with a hoping tone.

Duo frowned at him again with a sour face, "I said no!"

"Just checking my chances…!" Soleil lifted his shoulders.

"Here, get rid of this and be gone to someplace else…!" Duo shoved the paper bag in his hand to Soleil's chest.

"What's this?" the boy didn't seem he found Duo's action rude.

"Just something I bought for cover; now, stop being in my sight!" Duo already stepped away from the boy.

Soleil opened the bag and found a pair of prussian hand-knitted gloves with white pattern of snowflakes on their back; he smiled, noting that the gloves were about En's hands size. Perhaps Duo didn't do it on purpose, but he thought may be Duo's subconscious actually happy that he could have a chance to spoil a small-Heero.

"Can I give these to En and said you bought them for him?" Soleil asked.

"Whatever…!" was Duo's grunted answer somewhere behind some other shoppers. Soleil smiled gratefully, he bowed slowly to the direction Duo had disappeared to; ignoring people's stares on him.

------------

"…we could have lunch in the food court or buy takeouts and eat at home, or we could head home and make lunch there…!" Wu Fei offered with a flat tired tone that wasn't sounded like an offer at all.

En was frowning deeply at some spot in front of his feet while he walked behind Wu Fei, and didn't seem like he heard Wu Fei's voice at all. Soleil smiled tagging along behind En, they all had bulged plastic bags in both hands; he noticed people's stares on their odd carnival line, and was actually proud being in it.

"Head home and make lunch…!" Soleil answered for his brother.

"Good!" Wu Fei was actually being grateful that he didn't have to be in the shopping center anymore.

"Look, Toucchama is waiting for us!" Soleil said cheerfully.

Wu Fei made a vengeful face at Heero when he passed him by as Heero was still on his spot outside the entryway as they left him. "Thank you for waiting…!" he said sourly, noticing some passer by stared at Heero too. "There's no Relena inside too, Heero!"

"Good." Hero clicked to work again and answered automatically then he followed the odd carnival line to Wu Fei's car.

------------

Quatre got to the front door and was a little surprised when the door panel opened from inside, a smiling Soleil greeted him; he had to get used to it too.

"Welcome home, Quatre-sama!"

"Oh… I'm home…!" Quatre greeted back, noting that the boy had said 'home' instead of 'welcome back'.

Letting Soleil closed the door for him, Quatre walked in and saw En sitting on the middle of the long sofa with a dreamy smile on his face looking like he was on the clouds.

"You went outside?" Quatre noted their clothes were not Heero's anymore; Soleil had a sleeveless hooded shirt and hunting pants with many pockets, just typical Duo's taste; while En had a hooded long-sleeved shirt and a red over-all pants with large pocket on his chest. He was embracing a paper bag and actually illuminating the room with his megawatt aura.

Soleil pulled Quatre's arm down and whispered to his ear; "Papa bought En some gloves…!" Quatre's brows arched in a pleasant surprise.

"Oh, really?" he smiled, but sweatdropped at the sight of the mini-Heero smiling dreamily to the blind TV screen and didn't move at all. "Is your brother alright?" _Forget being on the ninth cloud, he's on the ninetieth cloud_; he thought to himself.

"Do you need him on earth, Quatre-sama?" Soleil chuckled.

"Hmm… have you had dinner?" he took off his duster and handed it to Soleil's waiting hands.

"I was going to make some, but I waited for you in case you want to eat something in particular…" Soleil answered from the closet as he hang Quatre's duster.

"You could cook?" Quatre took off his shoes and exchanged them with the slippers Soleil offered.

"I watched some cooking show on TV the whole day while Toucchama and Fei Oji-chan in the study…!" he answered closing the closet door.

"I thought Heero threw the remote out the window…" Quatre loosened his tie and gave Soleil his suit jacket while he rolled his sleeves up, walking to the sink to wash his face and hands knowing the boy would tag him along.

"I had to pick the channels manually…" Soleil arched his shoulder as Quatre took the hand towel he offered to dry his face and hands; "…eventhough I already found the remote outside…" the boy whispered conspiratorially nodding slowly to himself.

Quatre chuckled at that; "Have you bathed?"

"No…" Soleil answered with wide eyes.

"Do you want a bath first or dinner first?" Quatre took his jacket suit from the boy's hand.

"Bath."

"Alright, I'll ask Heero…"

"No, Toucchama is busy. We could have bath just by ourselves…!" he smiled and pulled out a sealed plastic bag from one of his pants pockets while walking to his brother's side.

"The Sun to Nii-san on the ninetieth cloud, are you available, Nii-san?"

It took En a full minute to turn his head to Soleil and looked down to the plastic bag opened in front of him. "Evening bath…!" Soleil cued him to put the paper bag inside.

When En complied somewhat still dreamy looking and clutched the paper bag in the sealed plastic bag again tightly to his chest, Soleil took him by hand to the bathroom and nodded to Quatre before he closed the door. Quatre smiled at their behavior, he guessed the boy would still clutch at the bag even in the shower; and went to the study to see Heero and Wu Fei, he stilled as the dark stressing aura hit him just as he opened the door.

Quatre cleared his throat and knocked the already opened door twice; about to wince when two dark faces turned to him. "Bath or dinner first?" he smiled. His friends only stared him with unreadable eyes in silence.

"I'll make dinner…!" Quatre closed the door and chuckled at his thought on his way to the kitchen; already guessing what made them looked haunted and traumatized.

"………" Heero said with a scowl at the closed door.

And turning to his papers again, Wu Fei had to agree with him, saying another "………" with a disturbed face.

------------

"Ah…you're making dinner without me…!"

Quatre almost jumped at the sudden voice, and he thought he had gotten used to the boy's sudden appearance and their clairvoyant-thing already.

"Where's En?" Quatre asked turning his head from his right hand stirring the stew; he didn't hear the TV turned on.

Soleil had a small pout with a scowl on his face and refused to answer, Quatre turned around and he saw through the kitchen's window that there was a boy's shadow casted on the sofa arm and thought that he was back to his spot on his dreaming seat like before.

"I'll tell you what…" Quatre smiled and bent down to whisper on Soleil's ear; "What if you keep your first cooking for special occasion and surprise your fathers when they're making up? Say like… perhaps tomorrow? Surely you know Duo's soft spot so he could start being civilized with the both of you, right?" It's almost like a reflex when the words flowed out his lips, he thought perhaps he was just making excuses and pointed the boy's attention to someone else; his heart hoped that he didn't prematurely encouraged the boy and got both parties in a worse state.

Soleil loosened his scowl slowly, "…I could think of something to try…" he mumbled, but Quatre knew from his eyes that the boy had already planned something in such a short time; he's an improviser just like Duo.

"Won't Father take my intrusion the wrong way instead?" he looked up and gazed into Quatre's eyes with a knowing stare, and Quatre knew he wasn't staring into a boy's eyes; those violets were mature olden eyes.

Quatre was a little shaken by the looks in Soleil's eyes, but he held back to show it on the outside; he straightened his body and distracted himself back to his activity again, stirring the stew and denying the sudden clutch in his heart. "…you wouldn't know that if you haven't tried, right?"

His mind pointed out that he only wanted to escape the burn, or his own words.

------------

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	6. list 6: be truthful to your stomach

**The future never lies 'gaku 22 dec, 09**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's……too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…maybe undignified silliness, some adult issues coming ahead_

**6. List # 8: be truthful to your stomach**

Heero woke up with a sense of belonging for the first time in his life, he hadn't opened his eyes yet but he felt like home, and the comfortable feeling almost made him wanted to sleep again but he knew he had to wake up soon, before Duo's alarm went off; he hated it when that happened.

"Duo…" he mumbled.

He sighed and lifted his right hand, he had to loosen Duo's embrace before the alarm clock sounded and woke him up with a startle; that would make Duo groggy and wouldn't be a good start for the day. His hand caught a lock of long hair, and his fingers felt it automatically and found it wasn't as wavy as Duo's. His ears heard a slower heart beats and a gentler breathing rhythm, a cooler body heat and a different smell…

Opening his eyes instantly, Heero found En embracing his head and neck close to his chest; the boy's sleeping face looked very comfortable with a whisper of a smile on his lips. Heero stared wide eyed before he finally shook himself from the surprise; his mind pointed that he hadn't teach the boy how to braid his hair yet. Looking behind the boy's shoulder, he found there was no Duo, or Soleil; he frowned and tried to loosen up En's embrace without waking him.

After covering En with the blanket again, Heero walked out of the bedroom as he heard something from the kitchen. The kitchen window's drape was closed, but from the sounds, he was positive that it was Soleil preparing things. He thought, perhaps he was preparing breakfast or something; the fact made Heero a little uneasy, that the boys were already contrasting to the very reason why they even showed up before them only after a couple of days. He couldn't know his save perimeter that way.

"Ohayo, Toucchama…!" Heero could hear a big smile in the boy's voice even without witnessing it; the beads curtains made pleasant sounds as they swayed after he entered the kitchen doorway.

"…what about the 'skinship every morning'?" he asked softly, not wanting to wake up the others.

Soleil smiled glancing at him, the resemblance with Duo almost freaked Heero out every time he looked at the boy, but he never showed it outside; perhaps that's what made Duo being so reluctant to have the boys around too.

"Father's not here, Toucchama…" the gentle tone took out the sting and Heero knew the boy was trying to be understanding with them.

"Sorry about that…"

"Please don't be. I'm not here to make you resentful, you know…!" Soleil said while his hands skillfully put some chopped strawberry and blackberry on strategic spots minding the mint leafs on the snowy cake.

"This looks okay to you?" he asked with hopeful eyes, but Heero knew the confidence when he saw one.

"Who's that for? Duo?"

Soleil heard the disagreeing tone in Heero's voice, and he didn't mind about the outcome of his effort, just as long as he still had a 'father' in the 'present'. "Yes. I don't mind…" he answered, knowing Heero could read him through his eyes.

"Your brother would be disappointed…!" Heero pointed out, knowing Duo would act hostile and that would hurt En's heart again. Soleil only snickered at that and arched his shoulder.

"He'll learn to feel, that's good…!" the light tone felt darken and Heero knew he'd stepped on an upsetting subject; so he decided he'd try his perimeter.

"What's your father like in the future?" he stepped closer and rested his weight on the counter, standing with relax pose and took a small blackberry into his mouth.

Soleil stared at him and offered him the leftover of the cream in the bowl. "He's dead…!" And then he busied himself washing the dirty bowls and such.

Heero stared at the cream and tried a lick from his finger, it only had a whisper of a sweet taste and he smiled when his mind somehow reminded of En's sleeping face just now. "You don't know anything besides the fact that he's dead?"

"Father loved you…!" the sound of the running water from the tap made Heero turned his head to the boy, something felt like flushed away from his heart. "…so much that he couldn't choose to die and gave up on you…!"

Heero felt something hollowed out inside his chest, the thought of Duo sounded like he was miserable clutched his heart; "…was that a good thing?"

Soleil heard the unsure in his voice and he didn't want to counter or see Heero's eyes right now, he kept his concentration to the bowls in the sink, and the foam being washed away. "……only that you never showed up even after he's dead…" Soleil's voice was distant as if he was reminiscing the far away past.

Heero blinked indifferently, other than that his composure didn't betray the turmoil he was feeling inside.

Soleil turned the tap off, the sound of the water flowed down the drain sounded like a choking throat. "We thought… something happened to you; something bad…!" he watched the remaining bubbles flushed into the drain too and small droplets from the tap sounded like tears falling.

"You know what it would be, right?" he turned to Heero with large eyes and imploring stare. "You're distancing yourself from Father many times; as if seeking your way out of his world. Couldn't you stay with him and not make him sad, Otou-san?"

Another blink, this time he had to reset his mind before he blurted something wrong and exposed himself bare; but Heero knew he'd been caught red handed and he couldn't cover himself with a lie or a silence in front of the boy. So Soleil had seen through him like a magic mirror while Duo couldn't; or may be Duo had seen inside too but choose to be in denial about it. The formal way of calling him Soleil had used showed him that the boy was serious; but he was thinking of his way out right now, he had to get a way out or he'd breakdown.

"I… never called anyone like that…" he didn't feel his lips moved, but his frantic mind told his mouth to say something to escape; "…'otou-san'…"

Soleil looked surprise but didn't voice anything back; Heero felt his feet moved and the first thing he was aware of when his mind done resetting some minutes later was that he was in the shower, watching the water dripped in front of his feet, and his body almost didn't feel the cold water hitting his head and back sharply. His heart felt broken and he fought back the tears making his vision swimming, he knew he shouldn't have felt like home just then; he had no right for 'this home'…

Sooner or later Duo would find out, too.

* * *

"…Oh!" Quatre widened his eyes with a pleasant surprise; he turned behind at Soleil who was sitting on his chair at the dining table, the boy smiled at him with a shy pride that looked sweet on that cherubic face; whispering to his heart that everything would be alright, Quatre closed the fridge door gently.

"It looks great…!" he whispered when Soleil helped him arranging the breakfast on the table. Soleil looked up to him for a second and smiled at himself, his heart knew that Duo would still abuse his effort, but he smiled at the thought that Duo would react to him at all.

They had breakfast not long after that, minus Duo who hadn't come back yet; Heero was, in a way, looked somewhat distant, moving motorically and untouched by the surrounding as if it was invisible for him except the things he needed. Wu Fei had his mind on the case he was working on and he didn't talk much either, but in a normal sense. En still had his dreamy stare and as usual he only sipped a cup of water for a meal. Soleil looked childishly composed, but the childish part could be half act, waiting patiently for what's to happen; as if he wasn't particularly waiting for Duo.

Quatre watched their mechanisms with his usual smile; hiding his shivers every time he countered Soleil's patient smile when their eyes met. He'd realized that the boy wasn't trying to get familiar with Duo, or them, but he was testing them; and somehow it was Duo who got the crucial trial. Well, Quatre dismissed his fear with the thought that Duo was the very reason why those kids came back to this age, plus Heero that was.

* * *

"So the side ones get across the middle one in turns…" Heero said indifferently making a model-plait using the broom (it's because Wu Fei rejected the idea that they'd use his ponytail for the model and practically took sanctuary in the Preventer office eventhough it was Saturday); the synthetic bristles were stiff but his fingers had enough strength to make them obedient (like, what are those things compared to the iron bars he could bent).

"Oh, I thought it should have been like that…!" Soleil said with bright eyes as he held the broom handle for Heero who was sitting on the bed.

"…ummm… my hair is much longer than those things!" En frowned while he tried to conquer his long hair into a plait down his right shoulder.

"True, don't let the ends got tangled while you weave the upper part…!" Heero added while staring his small imitation trying to braid his own hair with a concentration frown between his brows and a pout on his lips. Soleil chuckled endearingly standing at his side.

"You can do it, Nii-san!"

En snorted once, but his fingers didn't falter. About a minute later he looked like he had mastered the trick and braided his hair with a much satisfied expression on his face; of course since he's gotten lower it got easier to do it too.

"Done!" En exclaimed brightly and let the braid go after he tied it with a purple hair band. Soleil let out a congratulatory laugh beside him.

Heero stared at the relatively neat braid and nodded once; "It's great for a first-timer…!"

En chuckled between shy and proud with a red hue colored his cheeks, fingering the plaited hair up and tugged experimentally at the root. "So how do I move this to behind my nape, Tou-san?"

Heero blinked once at the naïve question and those trusting eyes. Soleil was throwing himself onto the fake pelt rug of a black lamb on the floor and laughing himself breathless hugging the broom and seemingly using the bristles to hide his face.

En stared down at his brother with a shy frown and a sweatdrop; "…Nii-san…!"

Quatre chuckled at the bedroom doorway, as he was watching with an amused smile at how Heero handled the 'braiding-class' by himself; and he would have laughed openly if he had Duo's manic-side just then when he saw Heero's caught expression at hearing En's naïve question. "You should have started from behind your nape if you want it there…!" Quatre offered.

En turned his head at Quatre in a snap; he had a shock expression on his face. "But I can't do it down my back; did Papa do that using his own hands?!"

"…you start behind your nape several weaves and then you take it pass your shoulder and continue the plait…!" Heero summed up.

"Oh, right…!" En brightened shyly.

"Just remember the weaving direction, since the side you would see in front of your body is the backside of the plait, so the pleating direction would look outward; if you miss-pleat it, the strands would still look weaved inward, that means you got your braid twisted…!" Heero added; Quatre blinked at that added description about braiding tips.

"Duo hates twisted braid; he'll hack it off if he sees one!" Heero nodded with certainty. En grabbed his braid with paled face.

"I don't mind wearing my braid down my shoulder for awhile…!" the boy said fast.

'…or you could ask someone else to braid it down your back…' Quatre thought, but didn't voice it; knowing the boy wanted to be independent though it might just because he didn't know how to act spoilt, or dependent.

"Cake…!!" a reflexive squeal heard from the refrigerator direction just after Quatre finished with his thinking.

Quatre gasped as he didn't hear Duo entered the door nor when he opened the fridge door; perhaps he was being too occupied watching Heero and the boys so he didn't realize it.

"Who's celebrating what?" Duo took the cake platter with both hands and used his foot to close the fridge door, and stared at Quatre on the bedroom doorway who had his mouth quite gaping while staring back at him.

"uhh…" Quatre watched with a stunned face as the cake hadn't reached the dining table and his mind wanted so much to push the fast-forward button if it were a movie he's witnessing. As if the fate was laughing at his speechlessness, Soleil materialized beside him and pushed the 'stop' button.

"I made it for you, Papa…!" it was said lightly with a polite tone; but considered it sounded like a thunderclap to Duo's mood, the platter fell instantly to the floor with a dull sound as the cake absorbed the metal noise.

Quatre closed his eyes with a grimace, already thinking what would happen and he'd hoped that somehow Duo wasn't that reactive…or was it reflexive?

En instantly materialized behind his brother's back, with a flustered face. Duo was staring wide eyed at the broken cake in front of his feet, but his expression was something of alert instead of surprised, or guilty.

"Did you put something in it? Like drug or poison?" Duo turned his head a little to the boys, with accusing eyes and a resentful frown.

"Duo!" Quatre jerked from his speechlessness and wanted to shake some logics into Duo's brain if he were in his reach.

"No; I used a little rum, though…!" Soleil answered with a small composed smile and didn't look bothered at all.

"And who said I'd take anything from you?!" Duo started to reel up.

Soleil lifted his shoulders; "Since it's Saturday and Quatre-sama doesn't go to work; I thought we could spend some time in the park or-…"

"DON'T EVEN THINK!!" Duo pointed his fingers at the boys; "AND THERE'S NO 'WE'! You think you could buy me with a little sweets and acting a little nice?! Well just so YOU don't forget, I didn't WANT YOU HERE…-!!"

"Duo, that's enough!!" Quatre raised his voice, and Duo stopped yelling eventhough still staring acidly at the boys.

Duo snorted derisively and walked to the door, intentionally showing his disrespect by stepping over the fallen cake; Quatre gasped, eventhough he didn't think Duo would be that cruel as to stomp it (_it_ being food, since he'd experience starvation when he was a child on L2), but somehow he felt that Duo would do it if there weren't anybody around except for the boys and himself.

"Are you going back to work?" Soleil asked lightly.

"None of your business…!!" Duo yelled while banging the door panel close. "And don't you dare follow me like yesterday!!" he added with poisonous warning from the corridor.

"Okay…!" Soleil answered with generic tone; and smiled at Quatre who was looking down at him with flustered nervous stare. "Seems like Father has other plans for today…" he walked over to the fallen cake and picked the platter up, examining the damage.

The cake was broken into three uneven parts and the cream and topping got messy, but in general it still looked survived and it didn't fall out of the platter. "…It's still edible…!" Soleil nodded and put it back to the fridge after fixing the appearance a bit.

"You want some, Nii-san? We could have it when Papa comes back from work…!" Soleil offered lightly while licking the cream off his fingers.

Quatre stared down at En who was stilled on his standing spot; he looked stunned and shook his head a couple of times very slowly, staring wide eyed at his brother cleaning the mess from the floor with a mop.

"……you shouldn't have surprised Papa like that, Nii-san. Papa gets bothered with us…!" En said slowly; Quatre saw his hand trembled as they embraced the front pocket of his over-all on his chest, he knew what was in the pocket.

Feeling a little guilty that he'd suggested the effort and it had turned the worst way, Quatre reached out his hand, intending to soothe the stunned boy; but his eyes caught Heero's sharp stare from inside the bedroom, as Heero warned him to not interfere them with his gaze. So Quatre pulled his hand back.

Soleil returned from the washroom with a snorted sigh; "…No, Nii-san; I didn't blackmail Papa to buy those gloves for you, Papa did it on his own accord…!" Soleil said slowly with enough pressure, and Quatre realized what the boy's thought then and relieved when En's hands stopped trembling.

"…eventhough Papa had his own reasons…" Soleil added with a much lower voice.

"You…" Quatre tried slowly, "…didn't suspect that… those gloves were not from Duo, right?" Quatre carefully chose his words, he tried to not say that Soleil probably had lied; but it still sounded like it in the end, he realized.

En looked up with clear wide eyes that it stunned Quatre somewhat; "The paper bag had Papa's fingerprints on it; the gloves had Papa's scent; which means Papa had direct contact with them…" En said neutrally.

"Oh…" Quatre tried a comprehending smile, eventhough he sweatdropped at the details; so the boys had a mean to recognize people's fingerprints and scent… surely they didn't actually see and smell them by physical senses, right?

* * *

Duo cursed under his breath again, sipping his black coffee with a scowl. There went his good mood and composedness, his brain mocked. "Shut up…!" he cursed under his breath again.

"Can you see him?" a man's voice asked via the telecom unit.

The sniper smirked as he watched Duo through his riflescope; "I see him clearly… he seemed like he's talking by himself… or to someone over his com-unit…! Just tell me when to hit him!"

"Just wait until you're cleared!" the man on the telecom ordered; the sniper chuckled to himself at the admonishing tone he got and mouthed to himself 'Fine, Boss; whatever got me paid…!'

"Good morning; have you waited long?" A girl's voice made Duo jumped and he almost spilled his coffee.

"No! Sorry; I mean, good mourning--…!" Duo reflexively stood up and as the Lady sat down on the seat across the table with a flash of something in her eyes, he'd realized what he'd said instead; and noticed that there was a flash of sheer manic excitement in the Lady's eyes when he'd 'mourning' instead of 'morning'.

The assistant girl in black suite stood behind her with a metal briefcase in one hand that she put on the table. Duo glanced at the female assistant and already recognized she was a bodyguard instead of a secretary from the way she moved, he flashed her a generic smile; and actually somewhat relieved that he acted a little clumsy in front of them so they wouldn't consider him to be a threat…right?

"You have the result?" the Lady asked politely, but somewhat condescendingly in the way her voice sounded.

Duo cleared his throat, "Yes…! The surveillance photos are all here; you said you just want photos for evidence, right?" he slid the brown envelope on the table and the assistant girl took it. She took a fast scan of some of the photos slid out from the envelope and swiftly slid them in and sealed the envelope string again, put it into the briefcase, and nodded to her Lady.

The Lady smiled and Duo felt shivers ran down his back; it wasn't as creepy as Dorothy's condescending smile, but Duo knew a poisonous snake when he saw one. The assistant girl wrote a number on an already signed check and offered it to Duo.

Duo blinked and stared at the lining zeros on it. "I already had full payment forward…!" he said, staring at the Lady with fake uncomprehending stare; he knew he was being bribed, and being bribed by the people from the crime-world usually meant he already had one foot set in his grave, that they saw him as dangerous enough that they had to bribe him to shut him up. Bribery or bullet and all that…!

"This is insurance fee for your risks…!" the assistant girl offered, while the Lady was only staring at him with her ease smile; she was in her early twenties but being the only daughter of a crime lord gave her the presence of several Relenas shrieking together in a fan girl-frenzy, Duo thought, trying to make up something funny to calm his mind but failed miserably. Now he had to think of something to decline the offer but had to make sure that the other party didn't feel insulted.

"If you ask me to forget the result, Lady, I assure you that I'm professional. My connection with the client or my work ends when I submit the report to my client. But I thank you for your generosity…!" Duo smiled and held the coffee cup with both hands as a way to decline to take the check.

Several minutes passed by in silence and in his nervousness Duo wondered whether he could have said it nicer and safer.

"…right." The Lady had her smile gone to a neutral face, "Like people said, it's the thought that counts…! Although that check actually wasn't meant for you…" She stood up and Duo stood up to honor her too; the assistant girl took the check back and put a couple of hundred bills on the coffee tray. "That's for your coffee, Mr. Detective; nice having business with you…!"

"Have a good day…!" Duo greeted fast as they walked away and gone in the morning crowd of the park; he felt like a trapped animal and plopped down on his chair back, finished his coffee in an instant and put the cup on the bills so they wouldn't fly away by the open wind. He cursed again and took his leave, noticing the lively crowd and somewhat regretted that he'd chosen an open cafe for the meeting; he really hated it when innocent bystander got involved in his fights. At least alone he could face his risk by himself.

Some bicyclers greeted him as they passed him on the side road and Duo reflexively flashed them a grin, a family with three children said a greeting to him too as they jogged and Duo greeted back. Now, it could have been a civilized morning in a park if he weren't meeting up with a crime-world princess, his mind complained. Duo tried to concentrate on going out of the park safely with so many people in sight that could have been a hit man targeting him, and trying to act unsuspicious too; the thought of Heero waiting for him home actually made him even more nervous instead of calming; what if he got hit and died before he reached home and he couldn't make up about his last act? This morning he wasn't even able to greet him, nor see his face.

A playful dog suddenly jumped on his feet and barked at him with excited eyes, Duo shooed it as the dog seemingly thought that he needed to loosen up a bit and took the initiative to ask him to play with it. In any other day when his alarms didn't went off in his head he would play with any dog asked him to.

A bang sounded near him and Duo ducked reflexively, covering his head with hands, realizing when a toddler cried as his balloon popped a couple of meters away from him that he was still alive. He cursed again and hurried his steps, leaving the dog that seemed indecisive whether to take after Duo or to get over the crying child.

"He's feeling death on his shadow, you gotta praise this young Mr. Detective…!" the sniper smirked, still following Duo with his riflescope.

"Boss said hit him when he crosses the street, make it like it was a traffic accident!" his partner on the other com link said.

"You're kidding? A traffic accident victim with a bullet hole in his head…?"

"The autopsy might reveal such proof, but our job is to clear the trace of The Lady…"

"Like…, don't you think if Boss wants us to make it not connected with The Lady, shouldn't we hit him when he's with her? Make it look like she was the real target instead and he was hit by misfortune?" the sniper asked conversationally. Duo down in the park was getting nearer to the entrance, and the sniper already had his trigger happy finger stinging to pull that trigger it touched.

"Hmph! That would make it look like other gangs targeted her for an open war! It'd be bad fo-…"

His partner's voice stopped mid-sentenced and the sniper heard a faint voice in his com saying 'good morning' and before he could ask why his partner suddenly stopped talking he felt a sharp sting on his forehead and his body was thrown behind by the impact; he fell taking his rifle along and died instantly before his head hit the floor.

Duo felt a cold spike stung his chest and reflexively turned around, the traffic light changed and the pedestrians who were waiting to get their walk-light on moved together leaving him standing on the pavement staring at the park. A shiver jerked him to move again, and he hurriedly crossed the street and disappeared into the subway entrance across the park; that was one of the reasons why he'd chosen that side of the park for the meeting, he thought he could have easy access to get away.

* * *

The Lady went into a fancy car and drove away; Soleil smiled watching the hood of the detectable car between the other cars in the traffic from the ledge in a corner of a high building. The window to his left was closed, while the one to his right was opened; a fluttering lacy drape blocked the sight inside the room.

"You meant that the check was condolence money for Mr. Detective's family? That was mean, Aunty; you shouldn't mess with someone's Father just like that…!"

A dove flew by and landed on the still smoking barrel and cooed as it watched the boy squatting on the narrow ledge. "Right, Birdie?" Soleil turned and asked the bird with a bright smile; he had his head covered with his hood so he thought he wouldn't be distinguishable from the street down there. But then again, people wouldn't intentionally look up and be able to see him clearly from such distance down.

"Hmmm…now, what should I do with you?" Soleil glanced at the shock faced sniper, eventhough the hit man already looked like he was dead standing. "If you kill yourself by jumping down people will gather, right? Then perhaps you could just shoot yourself with your gun; you do have a hand gun with your, don't you?"

The hit man nodded slowly once, his contracted irises seemed like they were seeing nothing.

"With the silencer too?" Soleil asked again.

The hit man nodded and took out his hand gun from the weapon case, fixed the silencer on and without hesitation shot his own head. The dove flew from the rifle barrel still fixed on its support as the sound of the man's body hit the floor; Soleil watched it disappeared behind some tree branches on the other side of the street and didn't even spare a glance at the dead man in the room.

"…this should be considered a 'family time in public' too, Father?" Soleil asked flatly to no one.

"Shouldn't you choose some better detailed descriptions over matters? It's so much like you to sum up things in ambiguity and take a nasty turn when they didn't go your way!" he snorted and stood up, placing his hands inside the shirt front pocket; watching the scene of so many busyness happening at the same time down there… and so many people.

* * *

Duo tiptoed into the apartment again; somehow it reminded him about that fated morning when he did the same thing and found his doom was judged upon him in the form of two angelic imps (of whom he would love too if not because they'd steal his Heero from him without him knowing… The thing was, they could have come and revealed themselves when he was TOGETHER with Heero, right? But they'd taken the place at Heero's sides without him being there, right? It's like he was being cheated or casted aside!)

The old door panel squeaked on it hinges when he opened it and Duo stopped his mind-rant instantly with a gasp; he didn't think that the hinges squeaked before, or was it because he had slammed it roughly this morning? Noticing no one had reacted to the sound, Duo shut the door as silent as he could; it was already passed midnight and he'd intentionally chosen the hour thinking that he could avoid some too-alike faces he didn't really eager to counter right now. His mind pointed it to him that those too-alike faces owners, in all the likelihood, were now occupying his bed with Heero embracing them (and Heero being embraced by them).

Duo snorted in disgust, and to his dismay, there was only his stomach answered (or was it mocking?) him. So, he tiptoed to the fridge as he saw that he others had been so _considerate_ of him, being the real occupant of that place, and left him absolutely nothing to eat from the leftover of dinner or any kind of snack…-

Duo blinked and tilted his head; there was the cake he'd dropped this morning already cut into pieces and redecorated into different sweet-looking triangular cakes, and judging from the sum of them he was sure that it was still the whole broken cake that was only trimmed to fix the appearance.

"…purple and blue…!" Duo whispered with amazement at the colors of the sponge layers. At the time, his stomach made another long rumbling to encourage him to eat. Duo sighed and obeyed his master-of-digestive-system and took the platter to the sofa; he munched in the dark staring at the blind TV screen making a dull glint on the living room wall.

His mind filled with uncertainty but actually grateful that he was still breathing and in one piece and the others were still being civilized with him even after his tantrums these past days and left him the whole cake for himself; it actually tasted nice, he thought, it could compete with those expensive cakes made in some expensive patisserie by some famous patissier; ignoring the suspicion that his-copy might have rigged the cake with something invented in the future or such. Duo paused his munching for a moment, when he realized that if it was still the whole cake fixed into several pieces, then no body had had it except him; and wasn't that boy said he wanted to eat the cake with everyone in the park or something?

Duo choked and coughed it out, only the thought about parks chilled him to the bones; probably he would avoid such place for a while as he recalled his feeling this morning. He wasn't new to the feeling of being targeted, and he knew he had his brush with death the very day; which had him hiding himself in some rat hole this whole day making sure he wasn't being tailed home. The least he wanted to do was exposing his family to dangers and get them involved with his mess of work and-…

-cough-, Duo choked again as he realized his train of thought; his mind denying that he had considered the boys as family when he thought about home, his family that he mentioned was about Heero, right? And Quatre, and Wu Fei too, who're sleeping over in that place…

The soft clicking sound of the door handle being opened stopped his mind-rant again, he gasped as the bedroom door opened and a small Heero with long hair that was braided down one shoulder walked into the kitchen silently and was back with a cup of water in his hands, sipping the cup as he walked pass the dining table and froze when those twinkling prussian eyes saw him sitting on the sofa in the dark, with cream smeared around his mouth and a half empty platter on the laps of his crossed legs.

Time stopped for about several seconds span of eternity as they stared at each other with a caught look on their faces.

En jerked and ran back into the kitchen before Duo could form something in his mind, the half eaten piece of cake in his hand dropped to the platter with a soft noise; and he tried to swallow dryly. He was surprised when the mini-Heero (with the long girly braid down one shoulder) came back with a (large) cup of warm tea in his hands; putting it on the table in front of Duo in a hurry, gave a 90° bow and hurriedly back into the bedroom without a word, without making much noise at all.

Duo was, more or less, stunned and a dry cough surfaced his throat jerked him to wake again; the boy must have known that he was choked by the cake, or maybe he was just feeling self-conscious sipping water from Duo's cup and tried to make amends. Another cough surfaced and Duo took the teacup and sipped it slowly, noticing that despite the steam, the tea was decently warm and easy to swallow; perhaps the boy had mixed the hot tea with some cold water. And he'd made it light; Duo was never too fond of tea so he liked his tea light unlike Heero's preference.

That thought made him smile a little; and he continued munching the rest of the cake in a lighter mood, reminiscing today's events and feeling grateful about his honest stomach, the Master of his digestive system and mouth and quite a piece of his happiness.

* * *

_Saru is still too busy with work; the net got blocked by the provider too, so Saru had to find time to go to the net-rental to upload (actually saru is in the middle of chapter 8 of this fic, and chapter 9 of Shallow Mist; so anyone who asked saru to continue this fic or Shallow Mist, please be patient since saru is trying to write more as well)._

_Saru + Oni-tan (and everyone in the house) got infected by viral conjunctivitis about 2 weeks ago, saru still have a red blotch on the right eyeball too; so saru stole some hours to just type-type-type because we asked for Force Majeur-leave to our editor, and eventhough feeling a bit guilty saru upload this… hahaaa…. –just hoping that our kind editor didn't find out about this; he's a Rowan-tree, a very-very-very kind person but being a Rowan-tree said could be very fearsome when angered (if saru remembered it right), so we didn't want to see how explosive he could be when he gets mad- hahahaa… but that would be kind of OOC, so may be we're half curious as to how he would look like when he gets mad… actually, we're curious whether he could get mad at all…_

_ah, well… even if our editor wouldn't get mad, the Contract would… -sniff-, talking about deadlines and payment… we don't want to get penalty and have our fore-payment retracted, right… hehee_


	7. list 9: in sickness and in health

**The future never lies 'gaku 22 dec, 09**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's…too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…maybe undignified silliness, some adult issues coming ahead_

**7. List # 9: in sickness and health…**

_Fei Oji-chan had called Tou-san from his office about half an hour after Papa left the apartment in rage, he called about something Tou-san needed to handle by himself at work so he didn't care whether Tou-san was in sick leave or not; knowing that Tou-san would still take on his mission even if he was dying in a fight with only his fingers that were able to move; since he knew that Tou-san took a sick leave when Tou-san wasn't really sick that made the sick leave annulled when it concerned a word 'mission' for Tou-san. I remember Papa once joked that Tou-san would wake up from the dead just by etching the password 'mission' on his forehead; that was mean of Papa, but when Papa said that joke he looked somewhat relieved, that Tou-san had such kind of immortal impression on him; that somehow Papa wouldn't have to worry about Tou-san dying over him and leave him behind._

…_wasn't all that really just a joke in the end?_

_Poor Papa; his Märchen-doping wasn't proven as sweet as he thought it would. But I kind of wondering what it would taste like from Tou-san's side; would Tou-san say it was bitter, or sweet, or otherwise tasteless?_

_Tou-san looked like he wanted to disappear when Papa was around._

_So, Quatre-sama had offered himself to take Tou-san to work; and sometime even before that, Sun-nii was already gone somewhere he didn't mind telling me about, and left me alone in the apartment, since Tou-san and Quatre-sama thought that they left both of us. What weird was, that they didn't bother to make sure that he was with me before they left; they just said something like 'take care and don't make troubles' or such, as if they were facing the both of us, while they're actually only facing me at the door._

_Funny, wasn't it?_

_Sun-nii must have done something with their minds before he left; that's so Papa-ish of Sun-nii, he must be tailing Papa because he was told not to._

_I really don't mind spending the day alone… but what should I do spending my day alone? The List Papa left us didn't have such specific details that Sun-nii always complained about._

"_Hello, there…! I must be lucky to have accidentally met someone in this building in the time of need; could you give me a hand with this?" A huge tree trunk was standing at the stairway, blocking the access. It seemed that it had itself stuck on the ceiling of the stairway entrance and couldn't force its way climbing the last step._

"_Umm, …hello? Is anyone there? I thought I heard someone just now…"_

_Hmm, that was odd; someone could hear me walking? …and through a huge tree trunk nonetheless._

"_I'm Cath the art-geek from the second floor? You must be one of the Preventer agents from the attic, right? Could you give me a hand, please? I'm really in a bind and-…"_

"_I'm not a Preventer agent…!"_

"_UWAHH! Hey, you're shrinking, man…!" a colorful head peeked from the side of the tree trunk and I actually got little butterflies in my chest that anyone would took me wrong thinking that I was either Tou-san or Papa._

"_Hey, don't tell me; you're not into that… cosplay-thing, are you?"_

_I blinked at those colorful eyes; I've searched about 'cosplay' activity that the future-Papa had mentioned once in one of the records, but I didn't think that people could shrink themselves to contribute themselves in such activity. And why did this person said agents? Only Tou-san was the agent, Papa was a private detective; perhaps Papa left such impression too on other people. That made me smile._

"_Aaahh…and I thought that Heaven still has pity on me in time of need, but I couldn't expect any useful helping hand from a small kid, right? Sorry, kid; could you ask anyone to come here and help me with this thing before I lost strength pushing this thing up, since if I don't do it this thing will tumble down the stairs again and somebody kind enough to help would have to help me getting this thing up to my room from the ground level again; please?"_

_The colorful person had somekind of weird grammatical sense to me; but I liked the way such long sentence made me have to wait until it's ended to understand what was talked about._

_I chuckled._

"_Hey…I mean it; pleeease?"_

"_I'm not 'kid', I'm En…!"_

"_Okay, En-kiddo; please get someone to help me?"_

"_You're actually a male…!" I smiled._

_The colorful face laughed; "Yes; please?" and got a weird jumping-fondness in subjects, like Papa._

"_You should get back one step and tilted this thing a little; it could fit adequately! Then you could move it by taking it by the length?"_

"_Duh! I'd tried that, kiddo! First, I wouldn't be able to make the turn on the stairs landing; and second, it's heavier taking it by its length. Don't they tell you in physic class?"_

_I blinked; he blinked._

"_You have physic class, right…?" he asked with dull face; I smiled at his way of apologizing for sounding sarcastic._

"_I'll guide you to fit the space, so you should try it at least one last time? Then we could take either ends?" I offered; I knew my sentence was a bit confusing too but I got the feeling the colorful male wouldn't even think of it odd-formed._

_The colorful eyes drooped in skepticism, but after a minute passed the odd colorful-looking male sighed and complied._

"_I'm telling you, I'm already losing much strength trying to climb this thing up the stairs so I might not have much energy to hold it too long, and you might have to give me-…"_

"_I'll hold this side!" I hold the tree trunk and pushed it a little to give the odd male some momentum to get a step back._

"_WOAH! I'M FALLING!" he yelped and actually hang on to the tree trunk before finding his foot again one step behind; I thought from his expression that he found what happened was a little weird but he soon dismissed it as mysterious-luck and followed my instruction on how much he should tilted the tree trunk to pass the ceiling. And not long afterwards I got myself inside the odd male's apartment._

"_What are you doing standing there? Take a seat anywhere available…!" the colorful male said with a relief smile with some cans in his hands._

_There were many things that didn't look like seats so I just picked any flat surface that looked solid enough and didn't occupied by other things._

"_Hahahahahahh! That's not a seat, actually; that's my teacher's bust!" the colorful male handed one of the cans and he opened the one in his hand; chugged down the liquid content and exploded his breath and burped loudly._

"_Your teacher's bust?" I examined the face from between my legs, but didn't bother standing up; it's kind of comfy to sit on._

"_Yea, it's a figure-assignment with my teacher as the model, my pick, and I like the concept myself…!" he grinned proudly._

"_You had assignment to make bust figures and you pick your teacher as the model and made the concept that he lost the top part of his head, not really because he looked like that physically…!" I repeated._

_The colorful male laughed again; "Yup! You got the idea, kiddo!"_

"_I'm En!" I looked up at him; "Why are you wearing yourself so colorfully?" I asked; he was choked by the content of the can and spilled some to his face._

"…_I whaat?" he asked wiping his face using his odd colorful T-shirt, and left more colors on his face._

"_Oh, those are paints!" I got it now. _

_He stared at me levelly for a few seconds and looked down on himself, and back at me; "I just finished painting…!" he offered._

_I chuckled at his expression; he wasn't embarrassed or self conscious, he looked like he felt that it was odd of me that I thought he intentionally colored himself like that._

"_So you make paints?" I asked jokingly, and he choked again. He was kind of fun to play with too, like I'd thought Papa would have been when I watched the records he left me in the future._

_

* * *

_

"_So why does the tree trunk hollowed? Weren't you going to make a statue out of it?" I sipped at the can content and grimaced as the liquid was biting my tongue and throat._

"_I'm going to carve it, yes." Cath grinned while patting endearingly at the tree trunk, as if it were a pet, and he rubbed his cheek on it and looked very contented; maybe he was the pet._

"_Into what?" I put the can on the Mr. Teacher's Bust's chopped-brain top._

"_A lamp case!"_

_I tilted my head at the tree trunk, and the idea. "It's not a see-through material…!" –_like Quatre-sama_; I commented._

"_But you could make a lot of holes in it, like a lattice or a sieve, right?"_

"_Oh, you'd make tiny carvings on it intermingled with the holes so when you put a lamp inside the hollowed bough the light will cast different shadows like the silhouette-game!" I smiled widely. "And you could put some different colored lights inside the void when you make them turn on their places so you'd get variant outcome, too…!"_

"_Haahahahaa! You're genius, kiddo! Like me!" Cath patted my head twice; I winced a little, that was my first contact with a stranger -not to mention one that I had just met, eventhough he's a neighbor; and I might have flinched too._

"_Oh, sorry; you don't like stranger's touch?" the colorful face marred with worry; was it really that obvious?_

"_N…not that…!" I tried a smile and wondered why I'd stuttered. My face felt hot, was I blushing or paling?_

"_Haaha! It's okay, I get that a lot; people think I'm weird so they often didn't want me touching them!" he fanned his hand. (-of course that's the normal reaction people would give him since he'd mostly go out without caring about his colorful appearance, sometimes for days without cleansing his paints from all over his face and all; some people wouldn't think of the smell of paints to be very pleasant, too…)_

"…_umm, it's not like that… I moved in from a closed environment and never had other people around…!" I felt like pouted a little; the colorful face surprisingly gave me a gentle liquid smile, it's like seeing a picture through a layer of warm water; and I thought it flushed me._

"_I came from an orphanage, too; you could say I know how you feel. So, want something to eat? I could make simple dishes; join me?" Cath already half ran to his kitchenette and I couldn't refuse him; I wondered why. Perhaps because he looked about the same age with Tou-san and Papa, so I was just wondering what other youngsters their age would live their lives like; normal youngsters with normal lives, ones that didn't have to kill people in the war to survive._

_Sometime I forgot about Papa and Tou-san's ages in this time; knowing the fact that they would be our fathers made it biased that I thought they were 'old', while they're actually not; they were only several years older than me and Sun-nii, a middle-aged man would classified all of us the same as only kids._

_We were merely kids… _

_

* * *

_

_The deaf man living in first floor had an odd way of standing, he would hunch forward and tilted his head at either sides, as if he were trying to pick up noise while he knew he couldn't; he had a pair of small round glasses on his nose, almost didn't cover his small pair of eyes; and wearing an old tattered hat, with a walking stick that was out of age in one hand. People didn't take sticks with them when they walk anymore; the whole impression of him was somewhat looked antique, like seeing a black and white photo came to life. A blotchy tattered photo that was time-beaten and weary, but still survived._

_He stared at me staring at him as he was opening his apartment door; he had wrinkles on the edges of his eyes, from squinting a lot I guessed; perhaps he tried to see so much when his ears couldn't fulfill its purpose. He entered the door and dragged a large wrinkled carton box in; the box was tied with plastic ropes and had some newspaper to cover its tattiness. It resembled his figure in a way._

_I knew I shouldn't be staring, but something pulled me and I couldn't take away my eyes._

_When the closed door opened again and his half-bald head stuck out the doorway, the small eyes narrowed adding the depth of the wrinkles at their ends; the man always had his lips pulled flat, but I guessed it was supposed to be a form of a smile at the time. He waved one arm beckoning me, and my feet just followed._

_The inside of his apartment was filled with something grey and brown, like being invited to enter an old photo; he gestured me to sit on an old comfy chair as he rummaged his cabinet and got out a shabby clove-pictured can and pulled out some stick ginger candies from the inside. He offered them to me with a smile this time; a tight-pulled smile but a smile nonetheless._

_Then he sat on a rocking chair across my seat and had one for himself. He had a flash of childish light in his eyes; then he stared at me when I smelled the candy stick repeatedly. He looked uneasy and waved at me to look at him; sniffing at the candy in his hand and shook his head while gesturing to his mouth._

_He asked me whether I didn't like the smell. I smiled._

'_no- I actually like the smell- it's unique' I showed him; and he looked caught a little when he realized I could communicate using sign language._

_His real smile bloomed then._

'_ginger and clove work just fine- don't they?' he signed back; and I chuckled._

'_I wouldn't know- I never had nourishment with variant seasoning before'_

_The man's small eyes widened in curiosity; 'really? What kind of food you used to have before?'_

_I arched my shoulders while stuffing the candy stick into my mouth, the warm sweet taste felt pleasant on my tongue that I felt my cheeks somewhat warmer too; perhaps they were flushed._

'_some canned sterile nourishments' I signed while smiling at the melted sweet taste filling my whole mouth when I rolled the stick around._

_The man laughed outright with a deep pulled-inward sound, like from behind a sheet of glass or some other cover. 'if you'd like you can have some more for later' he signed and pointed at the still opened clover-pictured can on the small table; perhaps he took pity of me and whatever kind of life he thought I'd had and was happy when he saw the face I made with a candy-stick in my mouth._

_I paused my candy-rolling and stared at the offered can, and stared up at the man's now gentle face, there was an excitement in his small eyes urging me to take more candy-sticks._

'_but it's your saving' I signed._

'_I did saving them when I was a child- it was to be shared with my childhood friend back then- but my friend was missing- so I still had them with me even now'_

_I widened my eyes; it was that old of a saving? Such expiry things as food must have needed such effort to keep them preserved that it could still be edible; I didn't know that it was such an important thing he'd treasured so much, and just took it freely…_

_The man might have took my suddenly standing up with widened eyes wrong, since he immediately made some calming gesture with his other hand and prompted me to sit back._

'_they are still edible and safe- I exchanged the candy-sticks with new ones whenever it was nearing its expire-date- I only used the same can for storing them since it was my friend's- and my friend would instantly recognize the can of our candy-saving when my friend sees it', the man fast signed at me._

'_I made the candy myself, child' and he added as an afterthought._

_I stared at him and his worried half-dejected face and felt guilty seeing that old mask-of-sorrow face looked sorrowful; I shook my head too hard that I felt lightheaded._

'_no- no- I didn't mean that- if it's such an important saving- than I shouldn't be having some' I signed in half panic._

_The man's shoulders sagged in relief, and after some pause he chuckled. He slowly signed back; 'my friend is already dead- I just keep this as a memoir- we had a very hard childhood and sweets for us back then was beyond reach- it was just a past-childish-dream that I couldn't help but cling to even though I'm already this old'_

_He urged me to sit back; when I did, he continued; 'I'm glad that I could share it with someone who respects the meaning- I'm honored if you seemed like you would treasure it more than I do'_

_I blinked. He blinked; there was a sheen of wetness in his eyes, but he was smiling blissfully; his old complexion marred with a reddish hue that made his face looked somewhat childish. Somehow deep inside, I had a feeling that the deaf old man had seen and survived more than one war; it's not only the war that our fathers had contributed to end, but some older wars that might have occurred in the past farther years. I made a mental note to search about them; perhaps I might find out what he'd witnessed in his small eyes back then, the life that was his, -and his friend's._

_I stood up, gave him a 90__° slow bow, and took the offered can content and put them in the sealed plastic bag I had from the front pocket of my overall. The man lifted one of his old brows at the fact that I had such thing with me, but seemed pleased and asked nothing of it. After that he took out an old record and played it on an antique phonograph._

'_is this fine?' the man asked; 'I can't hear it but my friend liked this song- if you don't like I will put it back'_

'_I like it, Sir- thank you' Perhaps he minded that I'd feel bored; and he was lonely enough that he'd want to lengthen anyone's company he could have._

_And we sat there in silence rolling some candy-sticks in our mouths, truth was the old phonograph didn't let out a smooth sound anymore; eventhough sometime the man would checked whether the thing still made a sound by feeling the vibration above the disk with his palm. I wondered whether he used to play the record that often alone; it felt sad, and the melancholy song sung by a deep woman voice coming from the record only added the feeling._

…_it gave me the feeling that the old man never had other friends after his childhood friend missing._

_It reminded me of Papa some way or another; Papa must have clung to Tou-san's memories that much; might have even more so. To lose someone so dear to you was that hurting to feel; I'd try to be friendlier with Papa next time he came home._

_I left the man's place after leaving a note of thank you on a paper next to his precious can on the table; he fell asleep on his rocking chair about an hour before I left, perhaps his old body beat him and the comfort of not being alone made him too comfortable. I was surprised to find that he had such a skinny build when I covered him with a blanket before I decided to leave, it didn't show on the outside. May be it was because he wore thick clothes, as if his shield from the cruel world outside._

_It made me think whether our (future) Papa had such shield on him too; did our fathers in this world have shields with them too? …even the see-through Quatre-sama too? And the careful Fei Oji-chan…_

_Perhaps other people had shields on them one way or another… that plump lady in the convenient store we met the other night, for example._

_And what about Uncle Trowa… we've yet to meet him in person, but from the stories our (future)Papa said he was a courteous man with a silent air and a streak of noble betrayal around him. What was so noble about betrayal act? If I asked Sun-nii he would just dismissed it with something like 'we'll see…' or something alike; but there was always something flashed in Sun-nii's eyes when he'd said that, however careful he'd covered it; it was manic-glinted and reminded me of our (future) Papa's eyes and left me feeling uneasy. Truth was, I'm scared of Sun-nii sometimes… We'd only just met, anyway, so I wouldn't know him that much._

"_Oh, I didn't know that we have children in this building…!" an old woman's voice greeted with pleasant tone._

_I blinked and just realized that I've wandered around the first floor to where the old couple lived. I reflexively looked behind just to check that she was talking about me and not anyone else behind me._

_I looked at her again when I found no one behind me on the empty long corridor (…if anyone could sneak behind me without me realizing it, I'd might have blown them up just of alertness before caring to ask questions first); I smiled and gave a slow nod, there was something warm in my chest when she let out pleasant approving chuckles when she thought I was polite enough._

"_I, and my brother, are currently living in the attic, Ma'am…!" I told her._

"_Oohh… with those government's youngsters? Well, now that I looked closer at you, you do look like that gloomy child with brown hair…!"_

_I chuckled at the fact that anyone would classify Tou-san as gloomy, but something felt relieved when the warm tone called Tou-san as child; I wonder if Tou-san had anyone he'd ever called 'mother'._

"_You look hungry; would you like to come in?" the old lady said while bending her body forward to examine my face; and I didn't thought that she'd smell that nice._

"_You smell nice…!" I informed her; the more I breathed her smell my cheeks felt warmer._

_The old lady blinked and let out a high-pitched chuckle… "Oh, what'd you know… you're a flirt, little man…! I was just finished with the laundry!" she straightened her posture._

_I lost my smile and mulled at that piece of information; Tou-san or Fei Oji-chan didn't smell that nice after doing such activity, although I'd say Quatre-sama smelled rather nice after doing it. So why did the old lady smell rather much nicer with the same smell?_

"…_but our uncles didn't smell that nice after doing laundry…!" I pointed._

_She blinked, and seemingly finding my answer worth some amused laughing; though I didn't find anything funny with my admission._

"_Oh, you poor child; come in and I'll treat you something sweet…!" she ushered me into her apartment. "You do like sweets, don't you?"_

"…_uhmm… I don't mind, I guess…" I said hesitantly._

"_Good. Good. Now, sit tight while I prepare something nice, alright?"_

_I stared at her while she disappeared into the kitchen._

"_You said something, Dear…?" there was a deep old man's voice from the inner room, and a white bearded old man with a pipe in his mouth came out to the living room with a newspaper folded between his armpit. "Oh, we have company. Hello there, young Man, how have you been?" he sat on the sofa across mine._

"_I'm fine, Sir. Thank you for asking." –but I wonder why he'd address me as if we'd known each other for a long time; perhaps this was what being friendly should be like. But I didn't know about Papa that much, or the future Papa for that matter._

"_He would have a toothache with that much sweet…!" the old man said disapprovingly when his wife came from the kitchen with a large tray of a big cake and other sweets._

"_Oh, come on, Henry; some sweets wouldn't kill anyone…!" she smiled as she put the tray carefully on the living room table. "Would you like some juice, Little Man?"_

"_I'd like that, Ma'am, thank you. You could call me En…!" I said fast._

"_Oh, isn't he such a polite little fairy? Children don't know how to be polite anymore these days…!" the old lady chuckled and came back with definitely a fork and an empty glass and a pitcher of orange juice._

"_Here you go, please have yourself…!" she patted my head after arranging the things she brought in front of me._

_I blinked, and stared at the old lady nodding her head repeatedly urging me to eat, and at the old man who snorted with a smile while opening his newspaper; then back to the things on the table._

"…_ummm… pardon me, Ma'am…?" I didn't know what to ask exactly._

"_Lisa, he couldn't eat the whole cake all by himself. I doubt he could even lift it from the table…!" the old man said amusedly from behind his papers._

_The old lady let out a short explosive chuckle and pushed the table to be nearer my seat. "Here, you don't have to lift the whole cake from the table, right?"_

_I stared at the cake; eventhough I knew lifting such a light object wasn't even difficult for me, but the problem wasn't even about that, right?_

"_It's alright if you couldn't finish it by yourself, you could take the rest for your brother. Where is he anyway? You seemed lonely wandering alone; in such a place nonetheless…!"_

_Did I really look like that? I stared her back at her words; "I don't know…" I confessed; Sun-nii didn't even bother to tell me a single 'I'm leaving' or anything such. Now I felt like Sun-nii left me out on purpose, or was I just finally realized that a little too late?_

"_Lisa, don't make him cry…!"_

_I caught myself when the old man's voice sounded disapproving again. Was I crying, or looking like going to? I didn't realize that…_

"_Now, now… A little sweet would take the pain away…!" the old lady sounded apologetic and brushed my head gently, while putting the fork in my hands on my laps._

…_that's why Papa likes sweets…?_

_

* * *

_

Quatre sometimes stole glimpses from the kitchen windows while preparing the breakfast; Soleil seemed blissfully busy helping with some chopping beside him. Wu Fei slept over in his office in the Preventer building saying something about some information that he had to wait all night long and that he was needed to be in his office to receive it, as odd as it may sounded as an excuse. And Heero was somewhere not in the apartment as well; he only dropped by yesterday evening to say that he wouldn't spend the night at home since he had to be somewhere else, and seemingly he was asking permission to do so to the brothers; and the boys had let him, saying that they didn't want to intrude on his work, as cliché as it sounded as a permit. So Quatre had used the study to sleep that night and had missed Duo coming home sometime in the middle of the night, and who was now blissfully sleeping on the couch making a loud snoring and didn't even bother to wipe the cream off his face (now it had dried on his face and he probably would make a fuss about cleansing it later on when he woke up).

En stood near the couch's end at Duo's feet and watched him without blinking since early morning. Quatre only found out about that about half an hour ago, and was very relieved when nothing had exploded now that he thought about the current situation again, it was only Duo (the explosive) and En (the trigger) and Soleil (the catalyst to whatever might explode or wouldn't explode) that were left by themselves (with him under the same roof, nonetheless) all night long.

"Are you worried about En or about Papa?" came a silent question from Soleil; it made Quatre jump in surprise but he refused to look flustered.

"Both?" Quatre admitted turning his not-flustered face to the calm boy next to him who refused to look at him.

"…they would find their ends…!" Soleil smiled but still not looking at him.

Quatre sometimes felt uneasy with the olden words coming from the boy's mouth; like now, perhaps he was saying about 'their matching-ends' or just sarcastically meant 'something that would end things…or lives'.

"How about you?"

"I'm fine…!" Soleil answered fast.

"Is that a good 'fine'?"

"… I'm fine as long as En is fine." the boy corrected softly. Quatre didn't like that generic answer, he couldn't have enough reading about the mini-Duo, and it's been disturbing him since the first time. En was childish enough to be humane, while Soleil was somewhat too old to be a human-child… that was underlined at the word 'human'; the boy was somewhat inhumane to Quatre's mind.

"Do you need something else, Quatre-sama?" Soleil smiled and looked straight into Quatre's eyes, as if challenging his thoughts while actually using the finished chop-work as disguised.

"Put them in…!" Quatre averted his eyes and stared at the soup he was stirring. Soleil did as told and they ended their conversation at that.

* * *

As a surprise, although he didn't exactly said when he'd come back, Heero came home just as the time when they would have their breakfast at the table. Or perhaps just a simple intuition to avoid explosive things exploded inside his living quarter, that was just in time as Duo woke up from his sleep and realized that the mini-Heero was staring at him sleep for God knows how long. With that, they were now sitting at the same table facing their respected breakfast and trying to be civilized with each other.

"…shouldn't we go to a church in Sundays?" suddenly Soleil asked without so much a warning it made Quatre choked on his bread.

"Umm… I'm not…-" he said looking a little uneasy and dropped the subject by himself.

Soleil smiled to his plate, "I know Quatre-sama…". Quatre cleared his throat and looked flustered while taking a gulp of water.

En was somewhat off of the atmosphere and he was only storing data from everything around him; such things like how Heero hold his dining knife or how Duo stole glances at Heero and doing exactly what he was doing: storing images of how Heero did things, even the simplest way. Sometime En glanced at Duo and knowing what they were doing, he looked guilty to some extent; perhaps he felt like competing with Duo and knowing it wasn't his right or that they didn't have the same right to do so, so he backed away but couldn't help himself not to continue, Quatre thought.

Heero might have felt the things occurring around him, being the too-heightened instinctive soldier under two explosive-stares, but it didn't take a soldier's senses to notice what was happening in such an atmosphere anyway; Quatre cleared his throat again, he was grateful that Heero had that-kind of battle endurance.

"I have to go somewhere else…!" the soldier suddenly said; and Duo was already too familiar with his soldier-mode tone.

"It's Sunday!" he pointed, eventhough he knew his words wouldn't undo Heero's plans.

"Because it's Sunday." Heero only gave that halve of a sentence as explanation, and Duo shut his mouth. "Going to church in Sunday is not in the List…?"

Soleil arched his shoulders at Heero's odd-toned question; "Father said he was an atheist, I was just wondering why that cross dangling there…"

This time it's Duo who choked, either by the boy's words about (the future) him being an atheist or just because Soleil had referred his neck as 'there'. "Excuse mee…?" Duo asked banging the glass he'd chugged down to the table.

Quatre sighed in his heart, trusted a Duo or _two Duos_ to start a war over simple words, his mind complained.

"Papa…" En sounded hesitated but determined at the same time.

"What?" Duo barked at the soft call. Quatre only stared at them with more clouded eyes; his brows frowned disapprovingly but said nothing.

"… is it alright if I make acquaintances with other people?"

There was something calculated fast in Duo's eyes, that much Quatre knew and he was grateful enough that Duo would actually think of the situation to some extent. "Some ones I should know of?" though his tone was still sounded none too friendly for Quatre's taste.

"The neighbors downstairs. The elders from the first floor said that they're quite fond of you and Tou-san…" En sounded like he was trying to smooth out his permit. "If it's not alright, I won't wander around by myself anymore…!"

Soleil was staring at his brother from the end of his eyes, and he fast intercepted the conversation. "It's not in the List whether we can or cannot make acquaintances, Nii-san."

… _before it developed out of hands_; Quatre's mind recognized what Soleil was doing and made a mental note about it.

"But our-Papa didn't write we can, so we should ask-"

"_This_-Papa is not our-Papa, Nii-san…!" Soleil corrected calmly; "He didn't write the List, or perhaps _yet_…" he turned and stared at Duo.

"Since _Papa_ doesn't contribute himself to doing the activity as what the List specified, Papa shouldn't interfere with what we could or couldn't do about it; isn't that fair enough, _Papa_?"

Duo's brows twitched at Soleil's tone; and Quatre was thinking that he would rather like it if Soleil's tone didn't sound as if he was trying to get Duo riled up again intentionally… then something popped up in his mind; 'why?' Soleil almost acted like he was envious… no, jealous! About En looking up to Duo? Or about En meeting other peop-… alone! En was alone, meeting up other people and… what? Did it normal for the boy to be jealous of his brother at all?

"…whatever!" Duo threw his fork on his plate, wiping his mouth with the napkin, threw the cloth down on the plate, and strode into the bedroom, presumably to take his shower.

Heero didn't say a word, and just took his and Duo's plates into the kitchen after he finished.

Soleil turned at Quatre and smiled before he took his own plate and trotted into the kitchen; "I'll help with the plates, Toucchama…!"

Quatre blinked, all too familiar with that light shone in Soleil's -Duo's- eyes; it was possessiveness. His slack fingers dropped the fork to his plate. "I'll be damned…!" he muttered under his breath, halve aware that he was currently staring at En, who was the only one left at the table aside from himself.

En only gave him a blink and sipped his cup of water without anything else; Quatre stared at the boy fixedly after that. Now it made sense, but it would turn to something devastating if he didn't work on the situation fast enough; an explosive Duo being explosively possessive over one Heero was already hard to handle; but _two explosive Duos_ being explosively possessive over _two Heeros_ was a WAR!

He needed to call Trowa to come back right away, his mind supplied. With that in mind, he cleared the table.

* * *

Sunday's traffic wasn't as crowded as workdays, and Quatre was satisfied enough that Heero didn't look too _soldier-y_ right now; so he risked to start the conversation.

"…Duo seemed bothered enough, he looked jittery; he's not working on dangerous cases, is he, Heero?"

Heero was silent for sometime; after several minutes passed and he was only given silence as answer, Quatre thought Heero wasn't going to answer at all. He gave himself a mind-slap, and said a silent "…sorry for asking…" knowing he'd darkened Heero's mood somehow; perhaps he should have chosen other subject to beat around the bush with.

"…you're asking about me and Duo…" it wasn't a question. Quatre fast turned at Heero and back at the traffic, he swallowed his nervousness.

"Yes…!"

"What about me and Duo?" Heero asked silently without taking his eyes from something imaginary floating outside the window.

Quatre noted that Heero didn't say 'about us', and his alarm started to stir from its slumber in his mind.

"What exactly is about you and Duo; you looked as if you're staying out of his touch intentionally. I doubt even Duo himself wouldn't realize it by now, Heero…!"

Heero stayed silent for almost three minutes. "I…" when he finally spoke up he sounded afraid to say it.

"… I'm afraid of Duo…"

Quatre took a curious glance at that.

"No… terrified!"

Quatre's alarm now began to sound, but as Heero's tone was sounded as if he was having his mind elsewhere rather than contemplating, Quatre encouraged himself to ask further.

"Afraid of what of Duo exactly, Heero?" He was careful to make his tone sounded light and conversational without sounding like he took the subject as a light matter.

"… Duo will kill me…"

There was the shriek of tires as Quatre instantly hit the breaks and their car slid on the road by the momentum and stopped after making a 180 turn on the one-way road. Some cars honked them and surprised drivers gave them some curses as they passed.

Heero seemed like he had nothing drastic changed and was still staring at his imaginary-something floating outside his window. Quatre was, now that he had his alarm fully sounded at the highest pitch, currently gripping the steer wheel and giving a hawk-eye at the traffic now coming from their front but not actually staring at vehicles.

"Why do you think that, Heero?" Quatre still sounded conversational while his face didn't look like it; _Papa will kill Tou-sa-_… En's words ringing in his ears now, and he knew he hadn't heard it wrong back then.

"Because he's killing me everyday…" Heero didn't look like he cared about the words coming out his mouth, so a little voice in Quatre's mind was hoping that Heero was making an exaggeration of a sarcastic comment.

"He is?"

"… little by little…; with his words… or his eyes… or just his body language…"

"Heero…"

"… when he realizes what he's doing, he will definitely kill me with his own hands…"

"Heero! We're talking about Duo, right? _The_ Duo? The same Duo who loves you…?" Quatre felt like pulling Heero by the shoulders (now that Heero was physically smaller than him it should be easy) but his hands were probably stuck on the steer wheel he was gripping too tightly; a little voice in his mind which tried to escape the shocking conversation was pointing to him that he would probably find two grip-dents on it later when he could eventually drag his eyes from his friend.

"… perhaps it was _me_ that is the problem…!"

Quatre seemed like he would say anything but Heero turned to face him, and all words fled from Quatre's mind at those alien sorrowful prussian eyes, blackened by guilt and… love?

"… you sounded like you know Duo that much, Quatre… Tell me, do you know about me? _Any_thing about me…?"

Heero turned his face away, "If you know what would make Duo kill me, you would kill me yourself, Quatre…!"

"Wha… What is that suppose to mean?" Quatre barked; and at the uncanny time, his eyes saw the patrol's car driving their way, so he turned his car around and continued driving Heero to some dirty place downtown; keeping his mouth silent all the way, knowing he would say something stupid and worsen the situation with the turmoil inside; but making sure he would talk Heero down and grill out some answer from him later.

* * *

… exactly what would make Duo blindly kill anyone without a second thought or without any thought at all…?

If anyone killed Heero, perhaps…

But how could that fact apply if it was Heero himself was the one talked about…?

If Heero betrayed him, may be; if someone stole Heero from him then Duo would probably kill that person at first sight.

* * *

The vid-link showed a smiling Trowa brightened at the popping image of undoubtedly Quatre at the other end, and was apparently caught by the expression he was making as of now; but Quatre didn't even say a greeting and just said, "… come back now; I'm waiting on the landing…!" and cut off their link.

Quatre stared at his dented steer wheel and massaged his temples, closed his eyes, let out a very long sigh and doubled over on his steer wheel; didn't even care that his car's horn sounded by his leaning body.

"…I'll be damned…!" he complained to himself.

* * *

Duo was staring at the bed room ceiling while playfully gripping and loosening the sheet on Heero's side; how he wished that he could be playfully doing _something_ with Heero instead his sheet. He sighed for the -nth time and covered his eyes with his other balled hand.

Quatre was driving Heero to somewhere else and hadn't come back, eventhough it's been way pass noon. He didn't care about the mini-himself who had been openly declaring war to him that morning, nor the fact that that little imp now was nowhere in sight; if ever he was grateful for it. A little conscious mind stated that he was probably tailing Heero to that God-damned someplace else, but he fast dismissed the idea or else he would go berserk if ever that imp came back together _with_ Heero; he realized he didn't want to put Heero between himself and those imps anymore than this since Heero might be siding more to them than he already was.

Duo sighed deeply; "…I must have my sweets…!" he said to no one. A little amount of sweets wouldn't kill me, he thought.

After that thought flashed in his mind, he heard something dull fell outside the bedroom, and he momentarily remembered about the mini-Heero staring at him with open hopeful eyes directed at him whenever he was visible from the couch the boy was occupying. That what had made him retreated to the bedroom in the first place; being alone with that miniature of the one he loved was unnerving to no end, especially if he couldn't help but taken by that miniature as well. He hated to admit it, but he dreadfully realized that he was gradually started to love that miniature-Heero, as well. The thought that if there came the time when he had to choose between his Heero or any-Heero at all terrified him to the bones; it's as if he only had one love for Heero and if he ever shared that love with any other Heero that it would mean that he's killing the real Heero, the Heero that he really loved.

He knew he didn't make sense, and in frustration he decided to take some nap. Glancing at his alarm clock he noted that it was already 3:38 in the afternoon. He made a growl at no one at particular at the fact that he was alone now, trying to avoid the miniature of Heero and that everyone else decided that he didn't need their company.

So Duo closed his eyes, lying on his side; pretending that he had Heero lying behind him and thinking how much that feeling comforted him; from a very long time ago since they were in the war, even in the coldest prison with aching wounds all over his body that thought always managed to lull him to sleep.

He fell asleep sometime after thinking that any moment now Heero would tear down the prison and saved him from whatever devil was clutching him; he didn't dream, though. There was only an odd feeling nudging his mind even in his sleep, and thanked to that he couldn't have his blissful sleep too long.

When he woke up and decided he only felt somewhat more and more uncomfortable with each passing time, Duo looked up at the clock and it showed 4:56. He grunted at the number, and momentarily reminded about an orphanage friend whose face he couldn't picture in his mind anymore, who was being too superstitious and once said that if anyone accidentally saw the clock making a set of number in its numerical order or reversed such as 1:23, or 3:45, or 4:32; then it was a premonition to something bad going to happen. Duo had dismissed it as just a baseless belief but that friend had insisted that her family members had all died after she saw such numbers on the clocks. If it happened more than three times then it's not just something accidental anymore; she had insisted.

"… may be that was just your luck, girl…!" he mumbled to the pillow. Right after that he thought he heard a soft moan coming from outside his bedroom, then another one; after he was positive he heard the third one, Duo stood up and checked outside his bedroom door hastily. The scene greeted him was the empty living room; so he checked the study, noted that someone (probably Quatre and Wu Fei) had tidied up his book stacks and papers and such; then he searched the kitchen and the other bathroom next to the laundry. Finding nothing, and no one, he dismissed it as just his mind playing tricks on him and decided to make himself a nice steaming chocolate and watched some TV. He sure had missed a couple episodes of 'Sarucchi's Trip Collections', his favorite anime show, and he intended to enjoy himself when he could.

An image of an agonizing little-Heero greeted him on the floor, between the couch and the living room table. En was lying there in a miserable heap, with one hand weakly clutching his stomach and the other lied limply near his face; he was breaking cold sweat all over his body and trembling slightly. Sometimes unintelligent moan came out from his blackish lips, while his eyes were shut in a painful mask.

Duo was so surprised at the image, that he dropped the chocolate mug from his relax grip. The hot liquid had splattered on his feet but he didn't feel it.

The sound seemingly have brought the small-Heero's awareness somewhat, as he tilted his neck and opened one of his eyes a slit. Such little efforts apparently had woken his devils and he let out a small mewl, clutching his stomach a little stronger while his body wrecked in small painful spasms.

Duo's shocked ears could hear it a little clearer now; that the small-Heero was calling out 'Tou-san' over and over, as if asking for help; even knowing that he was at the other room instead of Heero who was somewhere else and undoubtedly couldn't hear his cry for help. The thought broke Duo's heart and without thinking he pushed the blocking sofa and table away, didn't care when he'd knocked down the sofa and the table had bumped the TV cabinets and some things had crashed onto the floor.

He kneeled down and checked the small-Heero's vital signs; while asking "What's hurting?" in a hasty bark. A part of his mind pointed the dull falling sound he'd heard before he slept, so the boy had been lying there hurting for more than an hour?

"What's hurting besides your stomach?" Duo barked again.

En only scrunched his face up in pain and tears started to well up, he weakly shook his head; and Duo only got more panicked.

The boy made another agonized mewl when Duo ran to the bedroom and left him without a word.

"Sally It'semergency I'mcoming Getaroomready!" Duo barked to the vid-link, eventhough it was a record. He punched the off button but instantly punched the redial button; "The closed one!" he added and took off wearing his long coat on his way.

Taking the small-Heero into his hands swiftly but carefully, Duo said "I'm taking you to the hospital, can you make it?"

But the small-Heero was only answering with broken "…Tou-sa…"; and seeing his bluish complexion Duo didn't care who the boy was calling for help right now. Although the fact that the boy somehow didn't seem like he trusted him enough eventhough he'd been calling him 'papa' this whole time pricked his heart.

Oh, but weren't you the one clearly stating that you'd better off without them? His mind chided while he took the boy down the stairs; his ears minded every small moan when his movements had caused more pain to the small body.

Duo kicked the garage inner-door and punched the auto-open button with his foot, and mounted his bike putting the limp boy in front of him. "The road will be bumpy, bear with it until we get there, alright?" He said to the boy while covering his small body with the front flaps of his coat and tied their bodies together with the coat's belt, arranging the boy's legs to rest on his right knee while his left hand held his upper body close to his chest. He didn't care about the helmet waiting on the rack, and just took off when the garage door gave an adequate opening for his bike to pass.

As figured, when you're in a hurry usually there was an invisible power called The Inertia that thought a little opposite force would be funny to your effort; Duo was caught in the evening traffic when apparently people who were going out for the Sunday vacation decided to come home and used the same route at the same time. He cursed and yelled all the way and after fighting his way through the walkways, he managed to get to the 40 minutes-away hospital only in about 18 minutes or so.

Somewhere in the middle of their trek En had changed his reiteration, calling out weakly "papa" over and over, and it'd fueled Duo's adrenaline up.

Not even minding to spare some seconds to put his bike on its standard and just let it fell to the pavement, Duo ran through the emergency corridor and just yelled "I'm to see Dr. Sally Po!" while dodging anyone in the way. On her level, still wearing a bloody surgeon gown, and looking bewildered at the also bewildered parade behind an anxious looking Duo wearing his mission-mode face, Sally trotted to Duo's side, who didn't slow his pace at all.

"What's the emerg- …oh!" Duo let her see the boy's face that was covered by the front of his coat, and that's that.

"Room 345, it's a VIP. Let them in. I'll be there in a minute!" Sally said fast to Duo's back and to his bewildered parade and back to Duo's farther back.

Duo cursed under his breath at the room number, but he didn't really belief that baseless superstitious, so his mind whispered to him that it's nothing but a coincidence over and over.

The VIP's room was divided into two sections; the inner room was for the patient, while the outer room was for visitors with small furniture of a cabinet and a rounding sofa set and a table at the center, a sink and mirror at the wall near the doorway and a locker to store jackets and such. Duo put the small-Heero's body carefully on the empty bed, gravely aware that he was nearly unconscious at the time, and arranged his body to ball on his side since that was what he instinctively thought the most comfortable position for the boy.

"Be alright! …be alright; come on, Heero…!" he didn't fully realize what came out of his mouth while he brushed the cold sweating forehead repeatedly. The small-Heero seemed to have heard him and tried to open his eyes; they were dull and blackened by pain, but the blackish lips tried a failed smile, Duo noted. After that the boy was too weak to try anything else and Duo just comforted himself brushing his brown head while saying his comforting words, although they were more intended to comfort himself.

"What happened?" Sally suddenly entered the door without saying anything else; she might have just thought it was actually Heero shrunk by freak laboratory accident. Sally stopped short on her trek right after she saw En's long braided hair; so it wasn't Heero shrinking, that thought flashed in her eyes visibly and Duo almost found it funny if not by his anxiety.

"He seemed like having extreme stomachache, but I don't know why…!" Duo half reflexively answered, staring at Sally checking the boy's condition; noting Sally's creased brows and odd expression at something she thought to herself and the alertness showed on her face.

"It's not something fatal, is it?" Duo's voice sounded childish, and Sally glanced at his face.

'Who is this?' Sally mouthed to Duo.

Duo seemed taken aback and looked caught for two seconds; "…uuh…" he grimaced and reflexively scratched the back of his neck. '…something about fire…' he mouthed back uncertainly. Sally only lifted one of her brows at that answer.

"Hello, Kiddo; I'm Dr. Sally. What's your name?" Sally tried conversationally while checking En's pulse. The boy's eyes snapped open but instantly closed in a grimace, he let out a whining mewl and his shallow breath quickened.

"I'll be back with something that will lessen your pain, alright?" Sally patted the boy's shoulder twice and dragged Duo out. En moaned long on the bed as he realized he was alone in some stranger's hands; "…nooo… Nii-saa-" he called out weakly.

"What is it?" Duo seemed like he was ready to blow up; Sally only gave him an odd calculating stare and looked uncertain. That only made Duo more panic; "Whaat?"

"…I'm not certain, buut…" flicked her eyes to the doorway, Sally looked back at Duo with a deep frown. "I'll be right back. You shouldn't worry too much for now, Duo!"

When a doctor said to not worry too much, that meant something was going on; and Duo looked paler. Sally slapped her forehead at his comical face; "I mean it, Duo!" she said slowly, and decided to drive his mind elsewhere.

"Who is that boy?"

"Hu…?" Duo jerked visibly, noted Sally's interrogating stare and that she was determined to get the answer. "So…something like 'fire'… his brother is the equivalent to the sun…!" Duo said hesitantly. And then he blinked at his own explanation.

Sally stared at him flustered and paled at the same time and decided to just take that answer for now and do what she should be doing as a doctor. "Wait here…!" she said leaving Duo alone in the visitor room.

"Wai-… what should I do…?" Duo chased Sally to the door.

"Wait!" Sally pointed at him from the corridor.

Duo fidgeted and tried to relax himself on the sofa for about a full minute, repeatedly looked at his watch and the clock on the wall, and eventually he stood up; his mind said that he should at least call someone, but a soft moan from the patient room pulled him back to peer inside from the window's half opened drape. En was -thankfully- looked conscious enough, but he was now mouthing 'Nii-san' over and over, his small hand gripping and loosening the bed sheet distractedly.

'…here… Nii-san…' Duo could read his trembling lips moved.

Suddenly the door opened hastily and Duo jerked in surprise.

"What happened?" Quatre barked worriedly but still managed to tone down his voice; behind him trailed along a plain faced Trowa who seemed more curious than worried.

"…uuhh…-" Duo was a little disconcerted at Quatre's stare seemingly accusing him of something bad; perhaps he and Trowa had reached their apartment and found the mess in the leaving room, and somehow Quatre had thought that they had a fight or something like that. "…I don't know; I found him on the floor…!" Duo said fast.

"Alone?" Quatre asked while peering at the boy trough the window.

"Yes. Where have _you_ been?" Duo couldn't help but sounded accusing himself since he was too consumed by his worry at the moment; at which Quatre snapped his eyes at his face, and his eyes smoothened a little realizing how worried Duo was. He relaxed visibly and blew a relieved sigh and took Duo to sit.

"What did Sally say?"

"Wait here…!"

"Anything else?"

Duo fidgeted and chewed his lower lip; "…wait!"

Quatre blinked and successfully managed to not rolling his eyes at Duo's answer. "Other than that?"

"…I shouldn't worry too much for now?" Duo looked paler, "That means I should worry, right?"

"Right?" he snapped at Trowa who only lifted his brows at the sudden question directed at him.

"Duo! I came back to take something I left in your study; what happened?" suddenly barged in a dark scowling Wu Fei without so much a greeting or a knock on the door. He must have checked the vid-link's history before coming here.

"Wu Fei, keep your voice down…!" Quatre cued at the patient room and Wu Fei inhaled his excitement in. "Duo found him on the floor, and brought him here." he supplied, at which Duo nodded with bobbing head. Wu Fei blinked and although still scowling, he assessed Duo's face and decided that he was worried enough already.

"… where is-" Wu Fei's question was cut by En's sudden hysterical yell from the patient room.

"Nii-san! Nii-saan!"

At the same time Sally was opening the door and yelped in surprise as a boy slid from behind her into the room.

"Here! I'm here!" the boy fast answered and in a flash already inside the patient room, leaving an "I'll take it from here. He'll be alright!" before closing the door, but instantly opening the door again and said, "Thank you!" as an afterthought.

That left the others in the visitor room gaped. That boy's face seemed relief and excited rather than worried, everybody thought.

"UWAAAAAHH! Noooo! It hurts, Nii-san…!" En's pained yell sounded from the toilet of the patient room and Duo jolted to stand up.

"It's alright, take it slowly…!" Soleil's voice heard encouraging his brother.

"WAAAAAAHH…!" En's yell was filled with tears; and Duo couldn't take it anymore.

"Sally?" he hurried to Sally who was currently still at the doorway with one hand still gripping the door handle, she had apparently some pills in her other hand but she fast put them into the pocket of her white coat; and Duo looked like he was ready to seize her by the collar and shook her.

Sally blinked, staring down at Duo's hands making menacing gestures unconsciously in front of his chest; and looked up to Duo's face. "That boy is only having constipation, Duo…!" she said calmly but matter of fact-ly.

Duo suddenly stopped 'ticking' in an instant; "…what?" his voice lost the emergency instantaneously.

"Constipated?" Quatre arched his left brow.

Duo spun around with a blank face; "…he's what?"

"Con-sti-pa-ted!" Wu Fei spelled slowly, and Trowa smiled at the Chinese's face knowing that he was trying to quell down his laughter successfully.

"WAAAAAhh…Nii-saaan…!" a louder scream mocking Duo's nervousness from the patient room and Duo's excitement shot up again.

"That can't be just constipated; he sounded like he's in extreme pain!" Duo whispered hard pointing at the direction the scream came from.

"Well…" Sally looked uncertain but decided to say her diagnose anyway, "…it seemed unlikely, but I think this is his first time!"

"First time of what? Being constipated…?" Duo asked skeptically.

"First time having his digestive system works…!" Sally answered calmly.

"Oh…!" Quatre realized something, "That's right. I only remembered him having water the past days…!"

"So, do the 'something about fire' boy and his brother of 'equivalent to the sun' have shorter names?" Sally asked slowly.

Then all eyes turned to Duo; "You don't even remember their names?" Quatre whispered incredulously.

Duo shrunk on his spot and stared guiltily to the floor. "…my brain's in a muddle…!" he mumbled defensively.

"Mini-Heero is En; mini-Duo is Soleil…!" Quatre said to Sally.

"Do you have to call them like that?" Duo muttered under his breath.

"It's faster that way!" Quatre sounded rather irritated, and Duo clamped his mouth shut, knowing Quatre's eyes somewhat looked angry at him.

Sally nodded to herself; "Should I file the boy in…?" she left it hanging noting the eyes of the ex-pilots spoken the answer of negation. "If there's nothing alerting happens after this, I think you could leave without staying the night…" Sally said lifting her shoulder dismissingly.

"That's it?" Duo sounded incredulously; and Sally stared him back disapprovingly.

"I have other patients, Duo. If anything happens just get me somewhere in this same building…!" she said and nodded once to the others and left.

The door closed and only after several seconds passed it opened again; by a calm-faced Heero nonetheless, he had two ice packs in one hand and a hand towel clamped between his elbow and body.

"Heero…-" Duo half exclaimed; and En's scream mocked him again, sounding painful and desperate that it made Duo jerked. Heero stared at Duo's guilty expression and dragged him to sit on the sofa; while handing the hand towel to Trowa who wetted it in the sink without needing to be told.

He noted that Duo refused to look at his eyes; perhaps he was afraid that Heero would blame him. "…slippers-biker…!" Heero said softly sounded amused, but his face didn't change.

"…what?" Duo asked when Heero kneeled in front of him and took off his slippers; and jerked by the sting on his feet.

"Soleil said I should get some ice for your feet. What is this, hot chocolate?" Heero asked accepting the wet hand towel from a silent Trowa, and he used it to somewhat cleanse the dried chocolate from Duo's feet carefully, seemingly minded at Duo's grimace at his stinging burnt skin.

Wu Fei snorted rather amusedly standing at his side; "…if you'd be that worry, you shouldn't have acted hostile in the first place, Maxwell…!"

Quatre chuckled for a moment but looked concerned again staring at the patient room window. Duo humph-ed with a flushed face, but grimaced again when Heero put the icepacks on his feet. "…it's cold!" he reflexively complained, and Heero only looked up at his face for only a couple of seconds long.

The sound of toilet flushed heard and everyone's eyes turned to the patient room, after some moment Soleil came out calmly; but after he closed the door he instantly ran and grabbed Heero by the chest and hugged him tightly, his whole body shook uncontrollably without a sound; hiding his face with his encircling arms.

"Is he okay?" Heero asked still with his usual composed tone. Soleil's head nodded several times, rather looking like he was rubbing his forehead at Heero's chest, and Duo felt the sting of possessiveness stirred in his own chest.

Heero looked usual for a moment, but then he frowned in disagreement. "If your brother would be traumatized by this for life, you shouldn't be laughing…!"

That jerked Soleil's head up, and he was indeed laughing until he cried out some tears, perhaps it hurts more since he didn't sound out his laughter. Waving his right hand dismissively at Heero's expression above his face, Soleil still looked like he couldn't stop his muted laughter any moment soon.

"Nii-saaan…!" came a teary whine from En in the patient room; and Soleil's face turned to normal in an instant.

"I'll be right there, En-nii; wait a moment." he said fast with his usual calm voice; but instantly broke into silent laughter again, the extreme changing even made Duo gawp at the boy.

Heero stared at Soleil's face critically; "You shouldn't show that kind of face to your brother…" he stated; Soleil waved his hand in a gesture of 'I know, but I can't help it; sorry'.

"Sun-niii…" En whined again.

"Coming. I'm coming!" Soleil separated himself from Heero still with laughing face; fast composing his expression before he opened the door. But En's voice instantly accused him before he could enter.

"You're laughing!"

And having it said to his face only broke his composed mask instantly; Soleil laughed out loud on his spot and En screamed hysterically bouncing on his bed.

"WAAAAAAHHHH! Nii-san hidoi-hidoi-hidoihidoihidoihidoiii-" with beet red face.

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Soleil said with laughter and jumped onto the bed to calm his brother's hysterical tantrum, "…but I'm glad you're alright-you should've told me you've eaten something!" he said while catching En's flailing arms and hugged him down when En seemed he'd lost his euphoria by Soleil's last words.

Taking some labored breaths, he mumbled a remorseful "…sorry… I made you worried…"

"Hahaa…!" Soleil bounced happily on the bed taking his brother's body in his embrace along, "That's alright; I'm happy you're alright now…!"

En silenced hiding his face on Soleil's shoulder, but eventually complained ashamedly that "…everyone's staring…!" at five pairs of eyes staring from outside the window and by the doorway.

Soleil chuckled, "Everyone's worried about you…!"

En's face burnt hotly and he hid his face even deeper behind Soleil's shoulder; "…I want to go hide…" he muttered silently.

"Alright, let's go home!" Soleil said merrily; at which En answered with a long complaining moan and shrunk deeper in his brother's embrace.

* * *

"Shouldn't you have said it beforehand if you have circumstances…?" Quatre asked with a disapproving frown.

"It's nothing much to be worried about, Quatre-sama. We just didn't have common things you have here back there…!" Soleil said calmly and sipped his tea. "Uncle Trowa…!" he smiled a greeting to Trowa who was sitting at the armrest of Quatre's seat.

Trowa nodded to the boy but recognized his sweet -furtively impish- smile altogether, having seen it on Duo's face often enough to remember it.

En had fallen asleep halfway through the journey home in Quatre's car, hugging Soleil's body in the cocoon of a blanket he'd used as a hole to hide. He seemed like he would be traumatized for life but Soleil looked rather too happy with his broad smiling face the whole time. After they arrived at Heero and Duo's apartment and cleaned the mess on the living room and left En sleeping in the bed, Soleil knew he'd be questioned by all five of the ex-pilots and actually looked like he was anticipating it to happen.

So Quatre took the seat backing the doorway, with Trowa at his right side on the armrest; Wu Fei at the opposite seat across the width of the table and Heero sat between a frowning Duo and a merry Soleil on the long seat; having a _civilized_ tea-time together. Soleil stole glances at Duo's direction for sometimes, seemingly satisfied that Duo grimaced repeatedly, looking irritated by his action; of which made Quatre sweat, there were two Duos in front of him and he could tell which of them was the one more childish despite their sizes.

"I should thank Father for bringing En to the hospital…" Soleil began, but Quatre knew when a mockery stated even with sugarcoated tone. "…but En is my Heero, yours is Toucchama; please don't confuse their identities again?"

Duo grimaced with a silent growl, "…it's just reflex…!" he muttered between his gritted teeth, but everyone could see his face flushed; and Quatre knew he should fill in before the boy teased Duo the wrong way, knowing Soleil had Duo's sadistic streak of teasing the people he liked to the verge of bullying as well.

"But you ate with us!"

"Hm?" Soleil turned his head to Quatre with clear eyes, "Oh… I've swallowed something once, so I know how my system should work…!"

The room fell silent for several seconds, the way Soleil have said it didn't give pleasant thoughts to the ex-pilots.

"Don't you eat at your place?" Wu Fei asked with a frown.

"We do. But not like what you do here…" he sipped his tea again, intentionally lengthened the pause, "…we have nutrient shots directly to our spinal cords from tubes twice a year…!"

Quatre blanched at the explanation, "…that sounded painful…!"

Soleil laughed, "We didn't have common food anymore, Quatre-sama…"

"Then how do people survive…-" Quatre's words stopped when Soleil sprang to his feet instantly with distant searching eyes; Heero caught the tea mug the boy let drop by reflex when Soleil jumped over his and Duo's heads in an instant, and at the same time the bedroom door blew up in mute explosion.

Soleil landed on both feet, sliding a little on the wooden floor and caught En's body which shooting out from the bedroom; the speed made Soleil had to bring his brother's body in a circling momentum to stop. "En-nii…!" he called out urgently.

"En-nii, wake up!" and called out again as En pushed him when he instantly had his right footing reflexively. "Wake uup…!" Soleil's voice filled with emergency shaking En's body while the walls exploded around them and made the ex-pilots ducked on the floor.

En gasped and faced Soleil's face, but his eyes were dull and unseeing. "…order-" En muttered.

"-the order… I don't want to-" he ranted in panic still trying to push Soleil backwards. "no-no… no explode…!" and started to yell in fright, banging his head to Soleil's chest.

"There's no such order!" Soleil barked and grabbed En's body and head with both hands, pressing him down to his body so he would stop hurting himself. "No order! Come back to me!"

"Come to my voice! Come back to me…!" Soleil's voice was trembling with urgency but didn't reach En's awareness; "Come to me! En-nii, come to me…!" he sounded almost begging at the end.

En shot his head up, exploding a breathless chough and wheezed in a seemingly painful breath; Soleil supported his suddenly lax body as En dropped powerless to his shoulder, and brushed his back comfortingly, swaying their bodies to the sides humming a gentle song.

When the explosion apparently stopped, the ex-pilots straightened their bodies almost at the same time. Heero was assessing his surrounding first and frowned at the multiple holes of various sizes in the walls, not to mention the other things besides the walls too. Duo stared with widened eyes at the sudden event, while Wu Fei cursed under his breath at the fact that he'd bumped his forehead to the table edge when ducking; and Trowa was supporting Quatre, who looked like he'd been electrocuted by invisible charge, back to the seat. Then they stared at the boys standing on the floor in front of the now holed bedroom door; Soleil was undoubtedly took En swaying in a slow dance to comfort him.

…_in a sole heightened space…  
__where the birds rest their wings  
__and angels learn to fly…  
_…_in the stars' embrace  
__bound by the Fate's strings_

_A lone egg waiting to hatch…_

_in the nest where the birds rest…  
__and the angels spread their wings…  
__and the Fate sings…  
__and the lone egg's waiting…_

They heard Soleil hummed a sad lullaby, repeating the last stave over and over. Not long after En literally fell asleep on his feet, in Soleil's tight embrace, resting his head on his shoulder. After that, it seemed like Soleil that was caught in his own thought; still whispering the lines and distractedly stroking his brother's back; sometimes his body shivered by something only he could see in his mind.

"…Soleil?" Heero called when the boy didn't seem like he was going to stop. Slowly and jerkily Soleil's head turned, facing five sets of eyes staring at him and his sleeping brother with various surprise and shock and bewilderment.

Soleil let out a shaky breathless smile, he looked lost and in the verge of tears himself; after some deep breaths he whispered, "…it's just nightmare!"

"En had nightmares sometimes…!"

"It's only nightmares…!"

And the others knew the boy was trying to convince himself over something he himself didn't belief in.

* * *

Sweats... saru actually forgot to upload this chapter _last year_... sorry


	8. List 1: if I can't have you, at least

**The future never lies 'gaku 17 april, 10**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's…too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…some dark things coming ahead_

**8. List # 1: if I can't have you, at least …**

_Duo swayed his feet distractedly while sitting on the dock, his ears picking up small grunts Heero was making in the cockpit of his Gundam. He was thinking that one Heero was more effective than a team of engineers in fixing a Gundam; it made him smile to himself, and for a fleeting moment he couldn't contain his feelings._

"_Hey, Heero…?"_

"…_what?" came an annoyed grunt after a full minute of silence._

"_What if I say that I love you?"_

"_Do you have to?" the annoyed tone was Heero's usual reaction to Duo's words, but at the time Duo knew that Heero had dismissed his feelings as a burden._

_Duo laughed it out sounding as if he was making another joke just to tease the soldier-boy, but his tears slid down his cheeks without he himself realizing it; without Heero knowing._

_

* * *

_

'…_we give up; but we won't surrender the Gundams…!'_

'_I repeat: we won't surrender the Gundams!'_

Duo jerked to wake with cold shivers; how he hated that his brain could still remember what Dr. J had said in that fated day to the tiniest tone and the smallest gestures he showed in the com-screen. That day he'd lost his Heero in the explosion and he knew that part of it was his fault; if he hadn't said what he'd said the night before that damned day, perhaps Heero would consider fleeing the battlefield like the rest of them, and not choosing to self-destruct… in the war time he'd blamed Dr. J for that vague order, assuring himself that behind such simple order was the hidden order to actually self-destruct in a code which only Heero and the Doctor knew. But deep down he knew it wasn't the cause to Heero's act that day, it was simply an order to not handing the Gundams to the enemy; just as the order sounded…

…it was his words that had Heero self-destructed instead.

The need of assurance of Heero's safety always woke him in the middle of the night; where seemingly the connection they had since the war time had pulled him every time Heero was…-

Duo blinked, realizing that the boys had left them alone on their bed; on his side Heero lied perfectly still on his back, his hands were at either sides of his body in a relax pose; his breathing was even and calm, face looked serene in an undisturbed sleep. But tears slid silently from the ends of his eyes.

Duo let out a frustrated sob once, hiding his head in his embracing hands for a couple of short seconds; he jerkily hit his bent legs several times, angry at his anxiety and helplessness. Taking in a long breath, he carefully lied next to Heero's still body and embraced him gently with his left hand, while his right hand held Heero's hand between their bodies.

"…I'm here, Heero… What's hurting you?" he whispered to Heero's ear, knowing that Heero didn't dream in his sleep; but Heero cried like that almost every night, without even knowing or remembering any of it when he woke up in the morning. How could he be convinced that there's nothing wrong with Heero when he always found him crying in his sleep like this? And it had happened since before they started living together; the very reason why he'd thought that Heero was hiding things from him. And the anxiety had built up and blinded his eyes and logics at day that he could easily get frustrated over simple things.

"Don't cry, Heero… please… Tell me what's hurting you…!" he begged; the hand encircled Heero's body and head risked a brush to Heero's tear and Duo felt the warm liquid on his fingers wasn't just his paranoia making him see things.

How could he belief when Heero said that there's nothing wrong with him when Duo found him like this at night?

Touching his forehead to the side of Heero's head, Duo whispered his incantation that usually managed to gradually stop Heero's flow of tears.

"…I'll be here when you wake up… I'll be here when you wake up…" Over and over; it wasn't just comforting words, it was a vow he made to himself since a long time ago when they're still in the war. It was a prayer of his own that Heero would still be by his side every time he wakes up from sleep.

* * *

Duo stirred to wake when he felt he was exposed, so much that it felt as if his skin was charred by heat. As his senses got heightened by the sudden caught feeling, he fast examined his surrounding without opening his eyes; knowing Heero's sleeping form tightly held in his embrace, and the fact that he was now sleeping calmly; the birds that were happily chirping outside; the warmth of the sun's rays that had managed to pass through the lacy curtain of the dormer window; and exactly two sets of eyes staring at him -and Heero- on their bed, him holding Heero's body and head tightly in a possessive overprotective embrace, and at Heero who was still serenely sleeping as if dead to the world.

Duo risked to open his left eye a slit, hoping Heero's unruly hair would cover it if ever such cover needed, and found the boys were standing side by side a meter away from the bed of Heero's side. He was shocked to find their expression they're making as they stared at them; their eyes were dull and lifeless, their faces were slack and devoid of emotions. They were standing perfectly still, with their breathing slowed to almost unrecognized if not by Duo's wartime experience; the uncanny resemblance to dead bodies or living statues that it gave Duo the chill when he realized he didn't know what ran through their minds right now.

An explosive alarm-clock sounded and Duo jerked in surprise and his hold might have tightened and woke Heero instantly.

"…Duo." Heero's tone recognizing him was robotic enough that Duo reflexively closed his eyes tightly and buried his face behind Heero's hair.

"Did the alarm startle you? I told you, you don't have to set that thing on every night; I'm good enough to be your alarm-clock every morning…!" Heero's robotic tone gradually melted to something humane at the end of his sentence, and Duo mumbled something to his hair.

"Ohayoooou…!" two voices greeted in unison with a merry tone; and Duo jumped again.

Heero frowned at Duo's jumpiness, and the fact that he was hiding his face on his head. So he turned to his right and found the boys smiling merrily with expecting stares in their eyes. He felt Duo's hands reflexively tightened around him, and he thought he knew the reason.

"No skinship this morning, I guess; could you settle with cuddling-party, instead?"

The boys' eyes softened in the same time; from their expression, and their poses and actions, Heero knew that they had reverted back to their previous selves of acting like they were inseparable-twins again. They bent down and gently kissed Heero's forehead, taking their time in doing it.

When they seemed to be satisfied enough, they straightened their bodies in one movement. "We'll settle with morning-kiss, Otou-san…!"

And after that they smiled widely; "Breakfast in bed?" they asked.

"No… We'll have breakfast together on the same table!" Heero said, implying that they have the other ex-pilots in the house.

The boys laughed together and said "…alright!" and ran to the bathroom exclaiming "Ofuroooo…!"

Heero stared them vanishing from his sight, and frowned again when Duo's hands tightened more. "Duo…? What's wrong?" He knew he couldn't move his body with the way Duo was holding him so he rubbed his head to Duo's. "…nightmares?"

After a long pause, Duo finally chuckled cynically. "Yeahh… nightmares…!" he whispered to Heero's ear; and refused to let Heero go for about some-teens minutes after that.

* * *

Trowa ate his breakfast in silence, like his usual stoic self; while Quatre tried a considerate chat at his side, asking about the progress with the moon base their client's company was building into some resort; which was mostly one sided with Trowa only offering some short worded answers every once in a while.

Heero seemed like he was relieved over something, while Duo on the other hand, looked like he was… disappointed, over something unseen; and distanced himself from the circle's atmosphere, only filing Heero's movements and all. Quatre tried to keep an eye on them; especially after Heero's confession over something that didn't make sense the other day.

The twins piped up sometimes with childish questions such as "Can we come see it?", or "Would you take us there?" between Quatre's words.

Wu Fei was reading his case reports while eating, eventhough Quatre already admonished him a couple times; but in general they seemed like they were having a pretty civilize breakfast this time.

The boys' acts surprised him somewhat; as they reverted to their twin-behaviorally habits even for doing the most usual action or making the simplest gesture. His mind assumed that it was their safe-boundary after they had their lapse yesterday, that it was their way of dealing their burden together. Something about their behavior didn't leave his mind in peace, though; what had caused some ones to rely to each other that much to drive them even fused their own identities and selves into one similar halves?

"Is it really dark in the outer space?"

The twins' question had the five ex-pilots paused in a click; and they stared at the innocent-looking boys.

"…you've never been to outer space?" Quatre asked, knowing that eventhough Wu Fei and Duo had reverted back to their previous activities they were listening to the conversation now.

"No!" The boys only provided that short answer, they were somewhat rocking in excitement now that they too knew that all ears around them were listening to them.

"Because you were living in your domes…?" Quatre tried a safe question; at least he risked it that it was safe enough to be asked; since from some of their small stories about their future, he somehow had the suspicion that the boys had a confined life. His suspicion was based on the thought about the boys' abilities, of course; what did the future-people think when they created some boys with such lethal abilities? In some ways they could even be classified as weapons; eventhough he didn't really want to start thinking down that path.

"Uh-huh…!" The twins nodded together.

"What? You never even saw photos or videos about outer space?" Quatre tried to make it sound like a joke by chuckling.

The boys giggled following his cue, "Yup! It's a blasphemy to have one; you could be shot or burnt alive on the spot!"

Duo's eyes snapped at the boys from the ends of his eyes. "…don't tell me it's those ÆS goons having their own cult-parties on the loose in the future…!" he muttered under his breath; Quatre's eyes turned to him for a mere second and back to the boys.

"No, the soldiers did it…!"

And somehow the five ex-pilots already saw it coming…

"After the war, they ruled as they pleased!"

Wu Fei put his reports on his half eaten breakfast and asked coolly, "What soldiers?"

"The World Soldiers…!" the boys arched their shoulders together.

"What war?" Duo asked slowly with alert all over his face; he thought he wouldn't have to survive another war; he didn't want his family -the ones he loved and cared- now to be involved in another war too.

"Men's war." And the boys sounded like they were saying something ordinary like 'men's room' or something alike.

"When?" Quatre asked with a neutral smile. The boys turned their faces at him and stared for some moments.

"You sure you want to know, Quatre-sama?"

And his insight now could see the correlation with the titles the boys used to call them; and he feared his suspicion with dread… Who was the future-him?

He quelled his nervousness with a deeper smile, "…or would it change the future if I have the information?" he left it hanging.

The boys knew his tactical question and smiled gently to him. "We already changed the present, Quatre-sama…" and they left it hanging there.

"But Papa and Quatre-sama ended the war…!" the boys smiled to their breakfast in one plate; En had the knife and Soleil had the fork, they were having breakfast as if their bodies were one.

"We did?" A small fraction of peace entered Quatre's mind.

"Only Quatre and Duo?" Wu Fei asked with a frown; his pride didn't want to accept that he'd die in a war before his comrades did and leave them to deal with the war alone.

"Fei-ji-chan died before the war even started…" The boys looked up to him and offered similar smiles; then they paused and stared at Heero for some long seconds. Heero wasn't there when that war broke, they just didn't want to say it out loud; thinking that their explanation about their past of the future already spoken…somewhat.

"And me?" Trowa asked suddenly, sensing the boys' air closing and he still wanted some information which might be valuable.

The boys snapped their heads at Quatre together, which quite surprised Quatre since the one asking was Trowa.

"Both of you ended the war with your deaths…!" The boys looked concerned for a short second; "…since the ones having the war were the both of you…"

"Against who?" Wu Fei asked the question that was all over Duo's face out loud.

"…against each other!" the boys reverted back to their coolness and took their cups and sipped the water calmly.

"What? Why would I be having a war with Quatre to our deaths…?" Duo snapped, his anxiety was already eating his peace of mind and he didn't really want to be there hearing about some stories of war and of his friends' deaths.

The boys stared at Duo with the oddest stares they'd given him so far, and Duo unseemly shrunk back in his seat and tried covering his nervousness by swiftly took his cup of chocolate and took a swig.

"Quatre-sama was the one making a war with you, Papa… Because you torched Uncle Trowa to death with a flamethrower…!"

"BRRUPPPPHH…!" Duo blew the suddenly vile-tasted chocolate in his mouth across the table onto Quatre who used Wu Fei's reports to cover himself from the liquid assault.

"I WHAAAATHH…?" Duo hit the table with both hands and reflexively stood; didn't even realize it that his wide gaping mouth was slobbering the chocolate left in his mouth onto his half eaten breakfast. "…WHY WOULD I DO THAAT?"

Wu Fei was staring at Duo's rolled egg now had some chocolate sauce on Duo's plate, while Trowa somewhat minding Wu Fei's reports now brown-splotchy colored and dripping in his love's hands; both didn't put enough mind about what the boys said because they somehow felt that such a thing if wasn't an accident then was impossible since they knew how deep the connections between themselves were.

"…because Papa didn't approve of Quatre-sama and Uncle Trowa's child, and Papa was ought to destroy the embryo's tank in Uncle Trowa's hands, but Uncle Trowa defended it even if he was to use his own body?"

Heero's fork fell with a clattering sound on his plate and Wu Fei's chocolatey report fell from Quatre's suddenly limp hands with a plop sound onto his chocolatey breakfast. Silence reigned for long seconds, and Heero had a caught look matching Duo's shocked face next to him. The rest of their faces had such indifferent surprised looks since they didn't know how to even express their surprises.

The boys put their cups of water on the sides of their plate, and waited for their words to sink in; knowing all eyes now burnt on them except for Heero's. "…was that too much information?" they asked indifferently with a pair of calm smiles.

"We are heading to a different future now…!" they said gently; "…that…butterfly-effect thing…?" the boys added; eventhough they sounded less assured than they wanted to.

"Yes, of course!" Quatre snapped into motion with a nervous smile; and just realized the state of Wu Fei's reports and seeing that Wu Fei was somewhat still motionless from his own surprise, Quatre subtly put the abused reports back on Wu Fei's plate.

"Wait, why would I-…?" Duo was beginning to panic. He didn't _approve_? That's enough reason to torch his friend whom he'd die for to death?

"You are not that-Papa, Papa…!" This time it was only Soleil said his words with his olden wise eyes, and En let out an almost skeptical giggle to himself.

* * *

"Dorothy, They're out! All five of them!" a suspicious clothed girl with a pair of sunglasses on top of a ski mask looking trough a pair of binoculars pulled her accomplice's long blond hair; "No wait, four! FOUR of THEM!"

"I can see that by myself!" her accomplice who only wears her usual black outdoor clothing with a pair of opera binoculars whispered with annoyance.

"No, wait…! That's Duo dragged into the car by an annoyed Wu Fei…with Quatre tailing and Trowa in tow, and a Heero who's talking to a Duo in the garage but- …Holly shit, Duo cut his hair SHORT! Can you belief that, Doer…?"

"Don't call my nick outloud!" Dorothy whispered exasperated, and she gasped.

"Wait, what? Duo is in the car and…" but Hilde was still too excited with her seeing.

"Hi….Hilde…-" Dorothy stammered.

"Don't call my real name in a surveillance, Lady Doer…!" it's Hilde's time being annoyed, and hit Dorothy's weak hand clutching at her long jacket while still glued to her binoculars in front of her black sunglasses.

". . . there's a longhaired Heero here…!" Dorothy said slowly with uncertainty.

"Don't distract me now, they're going in the car-…!" Hilde turned her binoculars and found a blur of brown braid at where Dorothy should be crouching and gaped as she lowered the binoculars.

"Cath said that that's an overkill…!" the longhaired-in-braid Heero said levelly pointing at Hilde's face.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH…!" a screeching unison scream heard from the bushes of their supposedly side yard and all the ex-pilots' eyes turned to the direction.

Duo's eyes widened to an unbelievable size and yelled, "HILDEEEEEEE!" and his vein popped out on his temples, and Wu Fei tried to ignore his mind thinking what a headache Duo would have after that (which he glumly aware that it would make him all stingy for the whole day, knowing his friends to that extent).

And the birds that were hiding in and on the bushes flew in surprise as the two girls fled in an instant; leaving some crows cawed on the electricity cables and rundown fences.

Quatre blinked several times momentarily not caring of Trowa's amazed words of "Oh… They're fine and kicking!"

The two girls got inside Dorothy's car and instantly left the scene before a berserk Duo and a longhaired Heero chased them and, "…for all things to happen in the world, must we be caught by Heero…?" Hilde pulled her ski mask off her face and threw it with her others gadgets onto the passenger seat. "Wait… what did I say?"

Dorothy had a serious face and looked determined to get elsewhere on the driver seat.

"Dorothy? What did I say…?" Hilde sounded panicking at her side.

"Let's find Relena!" Dorothy said firmly and stepped on the gas, Hilde yelped as she was thrown to her seat's back and nervously searching for her safety belt.

* * *

Duo ranted nonstop in the car and a deep scowling Wu Fei just thought of stuffing his abused report-prints to his mouth to shut him up when Heero asked levelly: "Duo…!"

And after repeated that another time, Duo finally stopped his ranting and asked in annoyance. "What?"

"Are you alright?" Heero asked.

"Alright? Hilde and Dorothy were surveying on us for I-don't-know-how-long and they might've found out I-don't-want-to-know-what, and you're asking whether I'm alright? I sure damn alright, Heero, thank you for under-estimating-…!"

"I mean about your job…!" Heero cut levelly, and Duo looked like he had just gotten slapped.

"That's none of your business, Heero! Don't say something as if you've been tailing me, and pointing me how to do my business and all…!" Duo gritted his teeth as he realized that he'd said something scathing when he saw there was a flash of hurt in Heero's serious eyes, and Heero turned his face from him.

_Damn it! Why must you add to my anxiety by bringing up about my jobs, Heero?_ Duo thought, and turned his face from Heero's turned face and shut his mouth without needing to be told.

Wu Fei who was seating at Duo's other side only glanced at the pair's behavior and felt a burdened relief at the silence now reigned in Quatre's car.

Quatre pulled in inside the Preventer's parking building, and Duo frowned. "I thought you're going to drive me to my rat-hole office?" Duo asked, still sounding bothered.

"Heero said he needs you to see something…" Quatre offered and pulled the hand breaks. Wu Fei was out of the car still engrossed with the abused reports in his hands.

"What? So you think you could just kidnap me here without telling something beforehand-…?" Duo stopped when Heero put his hand on Duo's laps eventhough he's still looking anywhere beside Duo.

Duo stared at Heero's turned face for some time, and he tsk-ed when Heero stepped out of the car just as Duo's hand sought his now gone hand on his laps. He cursed under his breaths, so Heero knew something was wrong about him, while he was insisted that he wouldn't drag his family into the dangers of his works but knew that he somehow had done it. He shouldn't have taken The Lady's request in the first place, but knew that he couldn't back out when he met the soon-to-be-client face to face; because when he rejects taking the investigation he knew he'd be killed just by knowing the face of such a client.

Duo took a deep breath and sighed heavily, "I love Monday, alright!" he said to himself then stepped out of the car. At least Heero was being concerned of his well being, his mind supplied.

The five of them went into the same lift and Heero informed his usual shortened report; "He's dead!"

"Who's dead?" Duo glanced at Heero's still not-seeing-him eyes and frowned at the situation.

"The subject of your surveillance…!" Heero offered.

Duo frowned deeper, "And what's that to do with them?" he stared at Quatre and Trowa behind them from the reflection of the lift's walls that were partly made of mirrors.

Quatre grinned and offered, "Back-ups?"

"And which subject of my surveillance?" Duo glanced back at Heero by his side.

"The male-secretary as stated in your report to your client!" Heero said levelly.

"Hey, how did you get my report…-What?" Duo lost his frowning. "The male-secretary as in the… crime-world Boss's _lover_?" Duo started paling, and his mind already piling up names that should be connected to the client -the Boss's only daughter-, and the Boss himself, and the male secretary and _others_, which was a very long list full of unpleasant names. And Duo's stomach churned.

"Yes. Him." Heero still said levelly but glancing at Duo from the reflection with something flashed in his eyes.

Duo now was looking at the floor with a hand covering his gaping mouth, and missed Heero's concerned face, as short-lived as it was. "Oh shit! Because the photos I took?"

"There were some photos scattered around the body, but we don't know whether those were the photos you took or not, that's why I need you to see them…!"

"Wait! How did you know I was taking surveillance photos of them? Did Soleil told-…"

"Soleil?"

At Heero's incomprehensive stare Duo bit back his question.

"What's Soleil got to do with…"

"Nothing! My mistake…!" Duo cut the topic before Heero had to be concerned about that boy too; a little voice behind his head chided him for doing so, but he ignored it.

"Hey, don't get me wrong; I'm NOT against gay-couples no matter how far their age-differences were…!" Duo said defensively. "It was just a job…"

There was a sarcastic snicker from Wu Fei behind Heero, "Of course you're not against gays, Duo…!" And Wu Fei clamped his mouth shut after an acidic stare of Duo's vengeful eyes directed at him, but was still smirking to himself while looking like he was absolutely being absorbed by his blotchy crumpled reports.

"If the photos could be traced back to you, then you're in serious danger, Duo!" Heero commented.

"I didn't leave any fingerprints on the photos I gave with my reports, I can be sure of that!" Duo frowned at his own reflection. And what about the envelope? He didn't want to look suspicious by holding the envelope with gloves on in front of The Lady and her bodyguard then, while that said female bodyguard did wear gloves on at the time; he should've realized it but he was frantic and half panicking when feeling death on his shadow and just thought of getting away from the park alive.

"Did anyone saw you when you were in surveillance?" Heero's voice still sounded level and indifference and meant just business or mission.

But Duo knew Heero was actually thinking about this a lot since his question got longer words and all.

"Shit…!" Duo cursed.

"His bodyguards saw you?"

Duo massaged his temples, "I think one or two of them did…!"

At the end of his words, the bell dinged and the lift door opened, and revealed a…

"Heero!"

"Relena?" Heero didn't back away a step behind but his body did backing a little and crushed Wu Fei's already crumpled blotchy reports held behind him. "What are you-…"

"What are _these_?" Relena sounded in the verge of tears as she lifted a very large bouquet of… bald roses? And there heard a murmur wave from the long corridors as heads of people who were working in that building peeked out from their office doors and staring at them, which seemingly they're _waiting_ for _anything_ to happen since before they arrived.

Heero frowned feeling disturbed by people's attention on him and momentarily forgetting about Relena now started sobbing silently.

"Duo…?" Relena turned to a lax-faced Duo.

"What?" Duo seemed a little panic when he became the next object of Relena's pleading face.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm already… the both of you as a couple…since you love each other…!" Relena started crying. And another wave of longer murmur traveled the long corridor.

"Whaaat?" Duo gaped, minding that Relena's crying voice being too loud in that low-ceiling corridor. "What are you talking about, Lena?"

"You don't have to mock my feeling for Heero like thiiiisss…!" and she cried outloud falling to her knees using the bouquet of bald roses as her cushion. "Waaaaaaahhh….!"

Duo widened his eyes and hurriedly trying to pull Relena to her feet, flushed as the people's attention now felt like they were disapproving about him (and Heero?) and the little drama they're showing in front of the open lift. "I don't know what you're talking about! Weren't you supposed to be in your political trip or something…?"

Heero stepped out of the lift, blocking them from the people's attention, but Duo knew it'd develop into a much worse situation when he realized Heero's trigger fingers twitching at either side of his thighs.

"Heero!" Duo left Relena a step away and pulled Heero's shirt from behind.

"WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH….!" Relena's cry was fuelled and Duo was torn between comforting a hysterical Relena on the floor or pulling back an almost berserk Heero to a safe area (meant it's safe for the rest of the deemed offenders of Heero's PoV).

While their three comrades (back-ups as they said they would be) only watched the happening from a safe bunker (read: lift) and didn't even move a muscle besides blinking their eyelids.

"Yuy!" A man came from behind them from the other direction of the corridor with a smaller bouquet of bald roses in his hand. "This building is full with these. Read the ribbon…!"

Heero caught the thrown bouquet with one hand.

"I got four or five of those on my table, you know?"

Duo skipped that he wanted to know who the man who seemed like he acted as Heero's partner was; and just peered at the ribbon of the bouquet in Heero's hand.

"with love, 001 & 002…!" Heero read in low voice but with a knowing pressure.

"Say what?" Quatre moved out from the lift at that, followed by Wu Fei and Trowa. The five of them instantly looked at either direction of the corridor searching for the faces they knew of, but only found Heero and Duo's faces which now they were staring at intently. Duo was having objection with the stares he received but couldn't voice his objections, couldn't even thought of how he should object as he just made a fish imitation with his mouth.

"The building means every level?" Heero asked ignoring the stares given at him.

"Every desk in every room at every level…!" the man arched his shoulder.

"Agent Yuy to my office!" the intercom lit up with Lady Une's voice suddenly, "I repeat, Agent Yuy to my office! Bring all your back-ups you could get!" and that's the ultimatum.

And the corridor lived up with a low "oooh" murmur at that. Duo sweatdropped and froze; while Relena had calmed down to some sniffling on the floor. Heero snorted, ignoring the man's inquiring stare, and stepped into the lift again, his fellows followed while Relena clung to Duo's arm still holding his very large bouquet in the other hand.

"Why are you clinging to me, leave that thing already!" Duo said with annoyance but didn't do anything about Relena's hand on his.

"But this is from Heero…-" Relena sniffled.

"No, it's not!" Duo barked but clamped his mouth when Relena looked like she was going to cry again.

The lift dinged and when the door opened, the gang immediately greeted by the well known-

"Yuy!" the deep annoyed voice called.

"Zechs…!" Wu Fei's voice almost sounded like a…yelp? Quatre blinked at his side behind Heero and Duo (with a clinging Relena).

"What's the meaning of _this_?" the blond man said with a not-so-hidden disgust at the paper in sealed plastic bag in his hand he was showing almost to Heero's face. Heero frowned at the paper.

"What _is_ that?" he asked darkly.

"_**I**_ asked you first!" Zech asked back just as dark.

Quatre cleared his throat, ignoring a blanched Wu Fei, and taking the initiative to act like some sort of a shield for his friends. "We are on our way to Lady Une's office…" he informed.

Zechs frowned, "I know…!" he showed his displeasure for several seconds and then moved aside, letting them know that he's going to tail them -namely Heero, whom seemingly the one he'd business with- and to Quatre's amazement, there was actually Noin with him; so that's why Wu Fei looked somewhat like he wanted to flee the ground.

Taking the turn to the destined office, they saw the eminent Lady Une standing in front of her office door, with hands folded on her chest and one foot tapping at the carpeted floor, looking impatient but her searching eyes seemed like assessing things. She turned a hawk's eyes as she saw them coming her way.

"Gentlemen…!" she greeted with her mission mode voice; Duo sweatdropped at that, feeling that everyone turned to mission mode that easily while he still couldn't get his brain to concentrate.

A whiff of rose scent assailed their noses as they neared her, Heero already noted that the red things scattered on the floor and made quite a pile behind her feet was rose petals; the parading lines behind him murmured to themselves as they also noticed the petals. Heero stared at some petals that were crushed by the office electric door panels, he readied himself for any sight would greet them once that door opened; apparently some -known- imps thought it's time to play April Fool's now, or at least that was what he'd hoped for.

"You seemed to have anticipated this, Agent Yuy?" Lady Une asked with a knowing tone; Heero glanced at her with a frown of objection being the person to be deemed responsible for all this, especially with the paper in Zechs's hand he showed to his face sometime before, but making sure he's going to make some _ones_ to elaborate about _that_.

"I see you have your back-ups!" she commented and pushed the buttons of her office doors; Quatre blinked to that, but smiled nonetheless.

The door panels swished open and there flowed the rose petals like a small avalanche to the corridor.

"Ohh, Heero's roses…!" Relena dramatic suppressed squeal heard from behind, and Duo's voice saying "…Not!" finishing her words. But they soon turned speechless at the condition inside the office.

"Whaaa-…?" Duo gaped with widened eyes, his mind already lost trying to estimate how many roses needed to be _bald_ to make a pile of about 30-40 cm high of rose petals flooding the whole chamber.

"Don't worry; I already know that this is not April Fool's prank, Agent Yuy. Which is why it is most urgent a matter…!" she took a step inside and posed a generic stand with calm alertness. "Do you need more players, or we could start now?" she asked into the center of the office, where a long sofa placed facing her desk.

"Lady Dorothy and Hilde are on their ways here, you could wait inside…!" two voices said in unison, and the five ex-pilots already knew whose voices those were.

"You…!" Duo suddenly felt the urge to throw a remark, but bit his tongue when he countered Lady Une's eyes stared at him and he tried to look someplace else.

At her nod everyone went in, Relena couldn't help but let out a pitiful mewl when she felt her shoes crushed the petals on the floor and her feet somewhat drowned passed her ankles, all the way still clinging to Duo's arm. When Lady Une pushed some buttons to lock the door, she cued Zechs to be ready; he looked uncertain but complied by standing guard by the doors.

"Should I know the meaning of the state of my office is?" Lady Une walked steadily and sat on her chair, "…Gentlemen?" she continued, staring intently at the ones sitting on the sofa, hidden by the back of it.

An amazed giggle, "Ladies adored flowers, didn't they?" the two voices asked and paused realizing their mistake of using the past tense; "…don't you?" they asked with a much calmer tone.

"People, please be seated, you will need to sit down while we have this meeting…!" a brunette boy stood up from the sofa, he whirled around and looked straight at Zechs's eyes and smiled. "Uncle Zechs,… we've prepared the seats for all of you…!" he greeted.

Zechs widened his eyes at the smaller-Duo's face, but he still kept his composedness, and he pulled a stunned Noin to the seats placed at the left side of the sofa at the inner side of the office, noted the seats were placed near the walls and quite a distant from the sofa at the center. He urged Noin onto one of the armless one-seat sofas, but was frozen when he saw the other occupant seating on the long sofa as it came into his view.

"Uncle Zechs…!" a smaller Heero with a long braid down his right shoulder greeted him with a smile; Zechs looked angry for some moments as he glanced at Heero at the other side of the room with a flash of betrayal and accusation in his eyes. Heero looked straight at him and ignored him, walked to the other lining armless sofas at the right side of the long sofa, which were adjacent to the closed doors, pulling Duo's hand as he pushed him down on one seat and stood beside him as if blocking the sight of the said doors from him. Relena who was stunned enough and didn't realize her clinging hands had dropped was currently staring the miniature of Duo like a prey mesmerized by a snake's eyes.

"Dorothy and Hilde?" Lady Une asked.

"I've directed them to this place, they'll be here soon…" the miniature-Heero smiled at her. Most ears noted that the boy had said 'directed' and grew alert.

Duo thought that he just knew it that the boys had their agenda and he felt his walls which almost shaken down especially after yesterday's incident now raised back up fully armed and ready to break alarms.

The door's intercom light bleeped indicating the sensor read someone was in front of the doors; Lady Une punched the open button from her desk already knowing who it was from her screen.

"Relena, you wouldn't belief what we saw-…!" Hilde barged in, or intended to, but her feet were caught on the piling rose petals and lost her balance. Dorothy caught and pulled her arm as she stared coldly to the miniature-Duo's eyes who was smiling at her, as if she was already expecting to see him right as the doors opened. She walked calmly inside pulling a gaping Hilde and a frozen Relena on their way and took the seats next to Noin and Zechs, as if seeking Zechs protection for her friends.

She noted that Wu Fei took the shelf near the door way as his seat, while Quatre looked somewhat unfocused sitting on the chair next to Wu Fei, with Trowa standing at his side as he provided another wall to rest for his boyfriend. She also noted Heero's alert and his subtle nervousness at Duo's side. "I don't like the way you summon us here!" Dorothy said to the long sofa occupants.

"You wouldn't like another fact when we've finished with the meeting, Lady Dorothy…!" the miniature-Duo said while sitting back. "Father, you're one of the main subjects of this meeting, so please hear us out until we finished and don't think to use Otou-san to bang the door open…!" he said lightly, the miniature-Heero chuckled at his side.

"That could work?" he asked.

"Otou-san always has enough explosive with him, after all…!" the miniature-Duo said with a smile.

"Oh, right…!" the miniature-Heero bounced on his seat looking excited.

"And you are?" Lady Une asked levelly.

"We apologized for intruding…" the boys said together, "My name's Soleil and this is my twin brother En…!" Soleil continued with such confidence.

Duo bit back his remark when he felt Heero's eyes scalding him.

"And you seemed to already know all of us here…!" Lady Une stated, noting how the boys familiarized Dorothy and Zechs and already thought about what they'd use to call Heero and Duo.

"The… the doujin! It's real…!" Hilde stammered her whisper and Dorothy put a hand on her arm to calm her down.

Duo didn't miss that, and he grimly remembered that soon enough some ones would accuse him to be the villain who'd massacre half the world population like in that doujin-thing the girls had been saying some days ago.

"And now we start the meeting of what, exactly?" Lady Une continued.

"Now we wait for him…!" En answered half distracted by the rose buds he played in his hands.

"Him?"

"Him…?"

The ex-pilots asked as they grew alert; the boys never mentioned about anyone with them before this, or whether they knew anyone other than them.

"I don't want to call his name, Nii-san…" En complained but still sounded distracted enough that he still said it with a smile.

"We are waiting for Merx…" Soleil provided, but before he could continue Heero suddenly cut.

"Mercury?" he said with low surprised voice, as if half aware that he even said it outloud. He seemed to have caught himself when he sensed all eyes turned to him, feeling Duo's grip on his wrist as if he was making sure that Heero wasn't already a part of this nonsense since the beginning.

"You know Mercury…!" Soleil stated as they stared Heero indifferently, with faces of a mask and glassy eyes. Heero knew they were assessing…reading him.

"I… might have seen something in the future Zero showed me…!" he said slowly but smoothly.

The boys blinked once together and looked down at the floor in front of their dangling feet in one motion. "…you might have… Zero system was still used in our era, anyway…!"

Quatre moaned at the mention of Zero system, the boys glanced at his direction without turning their heads.

"And your era means…?" Lady Une asked levelly, sounding unimpressed so far.

"We came here from your future…!" the boys said, ignoring Hilde's yelp at hearing their elaboration while fighting with Dorothy's hands trying to cover her mouth. "You might already have guessed who our antecedents are…"

At the silent tension answering them, Soleil smiled an almost smirk to himself; "…and we are twins no matter what you'd say; we might not related by blood, as how you phrased it in this era, but we have the same source of genes…!"

"At least parts of our genes; people were very loose about what they could and could not do with genetics and such stuffs in our time!" Soleil arched one shoulder; En seemed like thinking something else while staring at Heero, of which Duo was disapproving greatly.

"…Tou-san wasn't the first…!" the mini-Heero whispered half-distractedly.

"Zero system, or what had re-evolved of it, was the only thing we knew as our 'parent'…!" Soleil re-focused his brother to the topic, and the watchers' eyes didn't let it skip their mind-notes.

"We were kept in closed environments and never met any other living thing before… we came here to live!" Soleil said with a frown.

"I like sharing bed with Tou-san…!" En smiled at Heero's direction, half ignoring Duo's gritted teeth at him; "Papa minds us, though…" he turned and smiled at Lady Une.

"But Papa said that females liked to drown in flowers, right, Nii-san?"

"Perhaps it's not all that literal, Nii-san; you know Papa liked sounding cool with a lot ambiguity which he could turn around as he pleased when he felt like it?" Soleil smiled at En's naïve wide eyes.

"Hmmm… this-Papa doesn't sound that much ambiguous…"; at hearing that comment Soleil chuckled.

"And so, this meeting is for what?" Zechs asked with impatience. The boys glanced at him, and smiled.

"Uncle Zechs is pretty much like in the history…!" they commented together with satisfied tone; Zechs frowned and realized that the boys seemed to look up to him; then he noticed that they called him uncle.

"We had situation in our time…!" the boys said seriously, then paused; "…shouldn't we say 'the world', Nii-san?" and asked at each other, they stared each other's eyes for a couple of seconds, then arched one of their shoulders like doing a choreographed mirrored-motion.

"_You_ will have a situation, and we thought if we could cancel it, things would be different in our time…!" the boys concluded.

"Situation." Lady Une noted, "…Such as?"

"You will die." The boys said simply.

There were gasps from the girls, "You sent those letters?" Hilde asked.

"Letters?" Lady Une asked, and her eyebrow twitched; she had received something about this kind of situation in one of her emails from Relena, but didn't really put it to notice, thinking that it was the pranks of some 'fans' who got disillusioned with _the romance of the war_. So, some disillusioned pranksters obviously managed to work out his imagination into reality in the future.

At the mention of letters, Zechs moved his hand which was in his pocket, where he stuffed the letter he'd shown Heero; Soleil glanced at him before he could pull it out, though; and Zechs caught the cue of forbiddance in Soleil's eyes, and aborted his movement. But he frowned at the boy's eyes as they changed colour from violet to deep blue and to violet again; that was creepy, he thought to himself.

"So who will die first?" Dorothy asked with her cold smile; as it was stated in the letters they got.

The boys stared at her. "You" they answered lightly.

Turning back to Lady Une, "All of you…!"

"Females died first, and that left this world with problems you could imagine what…"

"Females?" Lady Une asked in the same time with Zechs.

"Yes. All females." The boys answered levelly.

Their watchers froze at that, and the boys noticed some realization dawned in their eyes as they put two and two together.

"That left mankind…" the boys continued. "Which were all men…" Soleil cut, and En chuckled as he found it funny. "…faced extinction!" the boys ended.

"And that's where we came from…" Soleil continued. "They tried to create females again, at first; but failed…"

"So they concentrated on making mankind as descendants…!" En finished the sentence.

"But that also failed…" the boys said.

"They only created more problems with humanity…" Soleil reasoned.

"…and with that, more wars came along. There's no peace as you stated in this era…" En continued.

"There were only wars…." Soleil glumly said; "We were made for war!"

"But we don't want that…!" En said fast.

"Wow…wow! Wait there…!" Duo cut skeptically, hiding his panic; "What do you mean 'all females died'…?"

The boys stared at him for some seconds.

"Should we state dates?" the boys asked each other again, "…the history is already irrelevant since we came here, so perhaps I'll calculate how much this time is already bent to a different path…" Soleil said.

"We could still focus on the turning points of the history, Sun-nii…" En reasoned.

Soleil mulled at that, he nodded and continued; "Seems like we couldn't state dates anymore; but sometimes after now, there would be the incident that starts all your history to ours…"

"Apparently someone or some ones, thought that they could contribute to mankind's evolution as to make better human, faster as in '_in an instant_'… since likely they thought they'd faced the lost being the ones with disadvantage against _someone_ who were genetically built to get the upper hand in the war…!" Soleil turned to Heero with wide eyes.

"You could guess who the one with the upper hand was, and who the ones who lost, don't you?"

The room fell silent for some long seconds; it was Zechs who tried first.

"But OZ is no more…!" he said matter-of-factly with a serious frown.

"You don't know that… do you?" Soleil countered. "How many people linked themselves with OZ… how many people whose relatives were associated with OZ…"; at that Lady Une frowned, Treize used to note all his men, those who deceased in terms of war, and their families and related; the recalling of him stung her heart for a moment, and she pulled herself back to the boys in front of him.

"People that were counted as collateral damage…" En said as if to himself. "You couldn't possibly know that someone hold a grudge to you just because something you did or did not do… right?" he stared Lady Une's eyes; there was a flash of something in his eyes that made her thought of her late commander.

"Anyway, there was someone who was a genius but insane enough that experimented with human genetics to make a boost to human evolution; which supposedly to make better, superior soldiers…" Soleil glanced at all faces; "That person developed a virus that would greatly improve man's physical abilities; but it seemed that he/she never finished the research. So the virus was stashed somewhere; and you know that viruses tend to adapt to the condition of their surrounding and reconstruct themselves…?" he let it hanging there.

"So, that wacko released the virus to the open, without knowing what it would do?" Duo sounded more skeptical.

"No. We belief that the person who first developed it deceased; and there were others who released that virus without realizing that it would evolve to something very different. Instead of boosting men's physical to superior, the virus then turned to degenerate female's genes uncontrollably…"

"When people started to notice that there were many females affected all around the world, it's already too late to search for the cure… or the antivirus!" En finished Soleil's explanation.

"How come there's no survivor?" Dorothy asked, she never believed that females were lower than males after all.

"First wave was the massive miscarriages that happened almost at the same time universally, after that all female fetuses were guaranteed to be failures. As doctors and scientists and just about everyone was panicking about that, babies, infants and female children started to die. When they thought it was a new disease that attacked children, adult females started to collapse…" Soleil continued.

"You just one step behind to realize what was happening." En concluded.

"What about the antivirus?" Wu Fei asked.

"There's no such a thing, Fei-ji-chan…!" En answered. Zechs lifted an eyebrow at what the boy used to call Wu Fei, but he didn't comment on it.

"When the lasts of females turned victims, the virus had already developed to victimize on male's genes as well; as it was, about 1/10 of the Earth's male population had already affected, mostly children and elderly who had lower immune system…" Soleil answered without looking back.

"The future population who lived, which was all male, was either developed immunity to the virus or _made_ with stronger immunity system; but the side effect of it was that they all developed some kind of mental disturbance, that in time turned them to exterminate each other either in large groups or individual…"

"You mean, we either dead by the virus or turn crazy and kill each other? Yeah, right!" Duo blanched, sounding skeptical or just refusing to belief.

"How long do we have?" Lady Une asked with steel composedness.

The boys countered her hawk stare without flinching; if ever, they were calm and looking as if…expecting?

"To the phase where all female adults started collapsing? Two years…!" the boys said together, there were alien glints in their eyes, like a flash of euphoria. "It all started to go down from there!"

"WHAT?" Duo, the previously stunned Relena and Noin, and Hilde who managed to free herself from Dorothy's hands, said together as they sprang to their feet.

"What do you mean we only have two years…?" Duo's voice was the loudest; Heero pulled his shoulder to sit back.

Nearly in the same time as Duo's yell stopped, the boys' eyes widened; En sprang to his feet instantly, while Soleil took a calmer motion to stand up. They half-turned their upper bodies so that their faces could turn and see the doors.

The sensor didn't bleep, there was nothing in Lady Une's intercom screen as well; all eyes turned to the doors too when they realized the boys' abrupt alertness. The electric doors swished open suddenly, followed by gasps of the surprised watchers; there stood a young man with platina blond hair, wearing a white cowboy hat that covered half his face as he was looking down; a smile on his lips. His long tattered black coat let out an aura of a lone wolf, and his unusual white skin made others imagined what a vampire would look like.

"You've started without me, Kidlings…!" the young man said silkily with an impressed smile.

"You're late, Mercury!" Soleil said levelly with an unimpressed frown; his left hand sought En's nervous hand behind his back, which didn't let unnoticed by Lady Une's eyes.

"I tried to take a detour, but there're just too many humans in this time…!" Mercury arched his shoulders. "Where's your history lesson's progress so far?" he grinned, looking up a little, his cowboy hat still covered his eyes to his nose. There's something familiar in his looks that Duo let out a hitched gasp.

"Are we going to talk with doors open?" Lady Une asked, forcing a frown; she felt an undeniable urge to assent, which made her frightened as she didn't know into what she was forced to assent to.

"You will have to invite me in…!" Mercury smiled wider; Quatre jerked suddenly. En was looking half panic turned to Lady Une with wide wary eyes; but she prayed that she wouldn't regret it. If the young man was that suspicious, then it's the more reason to keep him in close inspection.

"Come in!" Lady Une's voice didn't quiver, Mercury let out an impressed chuckle at her; he took a step inside, and Quatre doubled over with a gasp, clutching at his heart. Trowa was half embracing his body instantly, acting as a shield, but staring with incredulity at the person coming into his sight.

He was quite tall, about Zechs' height, with slimmer build but looked manly enough as he seemed to be in his late teens or early twenties; his hair looked like whiff of golden strands of clouds, with uneven cuts just above his shoulders, some long locks were down passed his shoulders to his chest. Something about him just looked ethereal and inhuman, like a character from 3D games came into life.

Mercury cocked his head at Quatre's direction. "Sorry, I'll tune down a little bit more…!" his smile was gentle.

Quatre gasped again and wheezed, Trowa helped him straighten up as he seemed to breathe again. The whole room breathed again.

"Oh, so this is your normal level?" Mercury's smile quirked at one end; "I'll note that…!" Then he used his forefinger to push the hat brim up, showing his smiling eyes.

Duo's eyes widened with shock and he barely felt his butts dropped to the sofa with a loud enough noise; but the others wouldn't even register that noise in their minds. Relena gaped with a face between shocked and amazed, reflexively covering his open mouth with one hand. Wu Fei almost fell down from the shelf but managed to get his footing.

En pulled himself sticking to Soleil's back, clutching his offered arm.

That was Heero's face they're witnessing; a blond Heero looking ethereal and damn well inhuman!

Heero's face turned to a stone mask at the sight.

Another path of mind suddenly ran in Duo's head as he remembered the first numbered line in the boys' list, it caught his eyes because it was unfinished.

[_1. If I can't have you, at least…_]

'_At least'…?_

'_At least' what? Let me clone you to my satisfaction…?_ His mind screamed.

Now he started to belief the boys' words that the future him was _that_ insane…

* * *

Saru apologize for the long pause; been busy with comics and museum works that saru didn't realize how much time had passed, and when saru checked the old emails again (it is old, yes?) that saru just realized that the last time saru updated a chapter was almost _a year_ ago…!

oh, by the way...this chapter was meant to be uploaded in December; but the works came in in almost in the same time and saru only have 2 hands for doing 3 jobs+event... need more time rather than more hands (sigh). Happy new year 2011 for everyone! this is late, but chinese new year's still not yet...so...saru's home is not that lively yesterday, we even missed the counting of last seconds of last year (2010)...hahahahahahaaa

Wow…

Has it really been that long? But saru just only finished a comic book and a museum contract, and didn't that just…too less an achievement…? Really, for a year? Like… a whole year…?


	9. list 6: share your mind and heart

**The future never lies 'gaku 22 nov, 10**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's…too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…some dark things coming ahead_

**9. List # 6: share your mind and heart**

"_Duo… wake up!"_

"_Hmm…? What? Are we leaving already?" Duo mumbled sleepily, scrunching his face as his eyes stung when he tried to open them; his whole body was still aching all over, especially his left side of his ribs; the bandages Heero wrapped him in were too tight, and his breath felt heavy._

"_No…" Heero sounded uncertain for some moments; Duo frowned still with closed eyes._

"_Are the Gundams stolen or humping each other…?" he asked with annoyance._

_There was a short silence in the air, and Heero eventually answered. "…No". Heero's voice wasn't as stern or steely as usual, if ever he sounded like he wanted to actually talk and that made Duo felt half the regret for ever sounding that sarcastic. But his wounds were still aching, his mind complained._

"_So… what?" Duo sighed, trying to soften his tone, and probably keeping Heero's uncommonly good mood._

_Heero silenced as if he was indecisive, and Duo cursed that he might have been too late to keep Heero's good mood; to his surprise, Heero's answer sounded almost caring. "…nothing. Rest, I'll keep guard."_

_Duo took a deep breath, and regretted that when his ribs ached again, he then tried some short breaths and forced his eyes open, moaning when the cold night air assaulted his feverish sticky eyes. The mountain's night sky wasn't supposed to be that dark, as he recalled he used to take some respites in some hideaway in some unknown mountains before; he frowned, feeling his skin pulled tight on his scalp because of the fever. Trying to blink the sleep and sting away a few times, slowly he could make out some glints in the sky above his face; a couple of beautiful prussian glints…_

_Duo gasped and stilled when he realized they were Heero's eyes above his face, and not the stars. Heero was frowning disapprovingly; and Duo already thought of that before he opened his eyes, but why was Heero's face looming above his? His mind baffled, and he realized Heero's hands were on the ground, supporting his body at either side of his shoulders in his cocoon of sleeping bag; meaning that he couldn't really fight Heero if Heero thought of beating him here and now, and so he decided to just think of a civilized thought that Heero was just checking his temperature… or going to?_

"_Your fever hasn't go down…!" Heero stated; and Duo could only made a half grunt half moan sound when he felt Heero's callous hand on his neck, then up to his cheek and later forehead after giving several light massages on his temple. It felt good, even with his aching nerves, but Heero wouldn't like the idea of what his other-mind beginning to think of; so Duo tried to look annoyed when he felt his face even hotter._

"_How come you're not?"_

"_Not what?" Heero asked and he didn't miss Duo's face flushed under his touch._

"_You're black and blue too, even more than I do; how come you're not down with fever?" Duo tried to cover his worry with annoyance; he knew Heero's right leg was fractured._

"_I have better-…"_

"_Superior physique, okay; I got that already…!" Duo mumbled and turned his face away from Heero's looming face, hoping that the unusually talkative and caring Heero (who probably affected by some kind of drug Dr. J given him for dealing with his wounds in emergency -like now- might not care enough what humane responses he's making at the moment, but would really be upset about that fact later and he'd be the one targeted by Heero's distress) caught the cue to leave him be; eventhough he felt like he enjoyed it, but it was too much of a sudden closeness in one turn and he feared it would turn the other way again when he start to indulge in it._

_Heero took some long seconds to eventually moved his hands, and lied down beside him. Duo felt him unmoving on his makeshift bed of tarp; he braced himself and asked. "Aren't you cold? We could share my sleeping bag…"_

_Heero stared at him with skeptical stare. "That thing won't fit me…"_

_Duo knew that Heero didn't mean anything pervy with his words, but he couldn't help preventing his face from blushing deep red. Heero blinked witnessing his sudden colour-change, and Duo decided he had to divert Heero's attention to something else._

"_Ah… I just notice the sky is so lit up tonight!" he faced the sky, and was a little unnerved when he witnessed that the stars, gaseous masses as they were, looked unneringly like some shiny dust or small shards of glass as they scattered and stayed unblinking, with layers of clouds at some places as background. He felt like he could make out the layers they were hung in, like a baby's room lit with phantasmargoria of fake stars._

"_Don't you feel like you're in a baby cradle watching this…?" Heero's tone was light; but Duo instantly froze. Did Heero just read his mind, or did he really ever been in such a cradle when he was a baby?_

_The thought of knowing Heero's childhood suddenly pumped some adrenaline to his veins, and he forced his heartbeats to be less hammering._

"_You think…?" Duo was careful not to break Heero's mood, but gave himself a mind slap realizing his lame push._

"_Didn't you have room like this when you're a baby?" Heero glanced at his face._

"_Uuunh… I don't remember of it now, Heero…" a disappointment crept in his heart that Heero was just recalling someone's baby's room somewhere, and not really his, and the fact that he asked him such a question probably meant that Heero could remember his memories even from his baby stage, and being some defenseless baby who seemed to live in some geek of a bunch of scientists' lab, Duo could imagine what kind of infanthood he'd been through; but then, he really didn't know about Heero's childhood, he was just guessing things. So he dared himself._

"_You've had a room like this…?"_

_Duo's tone was tentative and sounded somewhat fearful; Heero glanced back at him, noticing his wide almost pleading eyes that were slightly wet because of the fever._

"_I had a view of outer space from my room, I think…" Heero turned to face the sky again; "…someplace where I could see the earth…"_

_Duo blinked to that; was L1 that close to Earth or…? His mind couldn't think right now. "From L1?"_

"_Perhaps it was…" Heero's voice was almost whispering. "…or perhaps it was just… something I thought I've seen in my mind…"_

"_You mean like déjà vu?" Duo asked, feeling bolder now that he didn't seem to be treading on Heero's dangerous grounds._

"_Aa…" Heero answered, "Seeing something like this makes me feel empty…" his tone was somewhat melancholic._

_Duo chuckled, ignoring his aches. "Are you homesick, Heero?"_

"_More like I miss myself…" Heero frowned at his own words._

"_Whaaat?" Duo smiled bigger, "…seeing the outer space?"_

"_Seeing the stars out of my reach…!" Heero unexpectedly pouted._

_Duo cocked an eyebrow, "Out of your reach? They're not as romantic-looking once you reach them…" And the moon was an ugly barren spherical rock when you're on it; wouldn't you die when you reach a star which supposed to be a gaseous mass like the sun?_

_Heero chuckled, not a sinister one like he used to let out, "You're ruining the illusion, Duo. Like this is just fine; like you could reach out your hand at any of them, and pluck one and keep it close to your heart; and you wouldn't feel as bereft anymore…" Heero mimicked his words with his hand._

_Duo blanched with amazement; anything that Dr. J gave his anal-retentive partner was mind-blowing, as in blowing Heero's mind off of his retentivity-orbit, turning him to such a melancholic dreamer and all that. A deep voice in his mind told him that he shouldn't have been that skeptical about Heero, that it might actually be Heero's childish side trying to survive inside him; the humane side of the real him._

"_You… always feel bereft?" Duo tried._

"_Not when a mission is completed…" Heero's tone turned crisp again._

_Damn that Dr. J; Duo's mind cursed, knowing Heero would actually answer with that line._

"_But, when I see something like this, I keep feeling like I'm missing someone very dear to me…"_

_Duo blinked. Okay, to hear the words like 'someone very dear to me' from Heero's mouth was almost horror, Duo thought, he wouldn't even thought such words configuration existed in Heero's vocab._

"_Like, who…?"_

_Heero frowned, "I don't know; someone that would make me feel complete…?"_

"_Like a soul-mate, as in spouse?" Duo tried, hoping Heero would negate it._

"_No." Heero's frown got deeper. "More like myself…" he repeated his previous answer._

"_Wow, Heero…" Duo sounded skeptical openly now; "Are you telling me that you feel like you have a twin out there, somewhere…?"_

_Heero mulled at his words; "You think…?" when he turned facing Duo, his stare seemed lost that Duo realized that Heero was serious._

"…_you… could search about it…?" Duo didn't want to give Heero false hope, but didn't want to disappoint him either, especially when he looked at him with such eyes._

"_Perhaps… when the war is over…"_

"_Wouldn't that be too late?"_

"_I might only find tombstones the best, Duo…" Heero said with closure._

_The worst would be, some failed specimen saved in some tank somewhere in some lab…? Duo's mind needlessly supplied such mental image for that. He shook it off, and said he wanted to sleep, and that ended their weird conversation; but he really couldn't sleep well after that. Even nights after that, and every time he recalled their conversation when he witness such starry nights… because he kept thinking, what if there's really another Heero out there... one who never subjected to the lab of some scientists, and who had a baby-room with fake-starlit ceiling, and who always smile and laugh openly because he had a happy life. Why couldn't his Heero have that boy's life...?_

_

* * *

_

Duo's mind spinning fast; that 'Heero' eventhough he said he's from the future, couldn't be Heero's twin, or someone related to him like his descendant, right? He cursed when his mind always wander to memories he wanted to forget.

"Where's your eye-covering, Mercury?" Soleil asked disapprovingly; Duo was grateful enough that it pulled his wandering mind to the here and now, although still not his whole-mind.

The blond-Heero arched his shoulders, "I lost it in the landing…!"

Soleil frowned deeper but didn't say his thought, he let Mercury spoke for himself. The said person knew it, and chuckled.

"Oh, and I might have put out some ones in my way here…"

"How many people have you killed?" Soleil asked fast. Knowing the others would grow alert when he said it that way.

Mercury cocked his head to one side; "I wouldn't call it 'kill'…"

"How many?" Soleil pushed.

Mercury tsk-ed and rubbed his chin with a hand as if he was thinking. "Some pranksters who asked me for some lighter and my whole money which I didn't have in some back alley -I did try to make route where I thought there wouldn't be people there, okay?-, some cheery ladies who shoved my hat up saying that I have gorgeous eyes, some elder couple who said I reminded them of their deceased son long ago and up and touched my face, a police dog which gotten hyper at me and when I cued it to shut up it just ran across the busy street and got ran by a truck -and that's not my fault, I'd say-, …oh, and the hotdog vendor across the street who called me 'my-lad' and insisted that I took some of what he's selling. Perhaps he thought I was you in disguise…!" he smiled at Heero's direction.

Soleil eyes widened in anger, "You knew you could-…!"

"What should I do, they looked straight into my eyes. So what to do? Blind them before they lost it?" Mercury cocked his face up in defiant pose, pouting a little with a frown and still closed eyes. "I walked here with my eyes closed, you know?"

"Then you shouldn't have opened them at all in your way here…!" Soleil sounded exasperated. En let out a mewling sound behind him.

"It's not my fault these humans are that vulnerable…!" Mercury still stood ground.

"Here… here…!" Hilde whispered offering En her black glasses, who took them and passed them to Soleil, who threw them to Mercury's general direction.

Mercury caught the glasses with his left hand he drew from his coat pocket then examined the thing still with closed eyes. "These are not suitable for…-"

"Seal them, then!" Soleil said uncaringly, staring intently at him.

Mercury hmph-ed and took a black film from his breast pocket, stuck it on the inner side of the glasses, and put them on. "Don't you think these look funny?" he criticized. The black film was the cover of his eye-covering and shaped like a lid of a helmet covering half his face to the forehead. For once En actually giggled in that tight air.

"Hmph! For your information, I still can't see a thing through this!" Mercury objected rather childishly. En giggled louder, whereas the others just stared uncertain about the whole event. He stepped forward, but looking down when his feet caught on the rose petals; pulling his right foot and examined it, he asked, "What slaying are you partying?"

"Partying...?" Lady Une asked in confusion.

"They were partying a lot after done with the slaying...!" Mercury's smile was genuine, taking out the sting of his words. Several blinks from the others were the answer to that, "...not here?" he added.

"Not now!" Soleil closed that subject.

Mercury chuckled, after saying a thank-you for letting him in to the now frowning Lady Une he then plopped down on the long sofa next to Soleil and lounging lazily there; his whole profile seemed a whole lot humane after he covered his eyes.

"And you would be...?" Lady Une tone was crisp.

"I was their router..." Mercury grinned.

"Navigator" Soleil corrected. "He made sure we had a clear landing without any human casualty or anything more extreme than what we had..." he left it hanging there.

Most of the others aside from the ex-pilots (minus Trowa) who had already known frowned as they put the clues together. "The crater in the mountain a few days ago..." Lady Une started.

"That was your doing! " Dorothy finished.

"So you brought your vehicles to this time? May we know where you put them before some ÆS-goons find it?" Zechs didn't look pleased; Duo blinked and thought that it seemed he too had some episodes with those goons before and refrained himself from smirking.

"Vehicles?" the three from future asked in confusion turning their heads in the same time to Zechs.

Zechs frowned deeper, "You traveled here in a means of transportation, didn't you? Or are you telling me that it's a one-way-trip here to this era?"

"One-way-trip..." En blinked.

"We didn't calculate how we'd go back to our time; true..." Soleil admitted.

"Eeeh? We're going back?" En asked showing much surprised and anxiety. "I thought you said we're staying, Sun-nii..." he said slowly.

Soleil glanced at En's pleading eyes. "It's just a saying, En-nii. We couldn't possibly have enough power for the travel, even if we could build the same mechanism like we used in our time to come here."

En blinked. "...we couldn't?"

"They won't allow it...!" Soleil arched one shoulder.

"Something made me think that your time-traveling needs many sacrifices...!" Duo criticized.

Soleil glanced at Duo looking like he refrain himself from looking bored; "Yes, we did, Father; and no, Uncle Zechs, we didn't come here in transportation means. So you could be eased about that..."

"We used enormous power-field condensed into adequate size to make enough gravitational-pull so that we could be pulled here, in your era...!" Mercury smirked to himself.

"You mean you created a black hole?" Zechs looked half surprised. "Such a conduct needs extremely massive amount of energy source..."

"They convinced me that it's alright to use the earth as our fuel and it's probably only an asteroid the size of a small island left in the future waiting for us to return to...!" Mercury chuckled pointing generally to the boys at his left side. Soleil looked dignified while En looked half-guilty.

"We need to make enough energy there or we need to make enough energy here when we land; which I thought you would prefer we do that _there_...!"

Mercury laughed outright at Soleil's excuse, knowing the people's faces blanched in various levels as they realized what the cause of that crater left up in the mountain.

"But...-!" Hilde tried to divert her panic mind with formulating some logics; "We couldn't travel through a black hole without any transportation mean, could we?"

Three faces turned at her, two staring with confounded looks, one was staring or not-staring with an odd covering on his eyes; somehow the whole picture almost looked like a comedy; "You couldn't...?" En asked slowly.

Mercury chuckled again, "I told you these humans are too vulnerable, I couldn't even stare them down without putting them out...!" he said half-bored.

"No-one could stand having stared down by you, Mercury!" Soleil rolled his eyes. Mercury che-ed at the boy's retort, resting his head on his right hand propped on the sofa arm by the elbow.

"Anyway, ...!" Soleil frowned to himself when he realized they're not making any progress since the blond-Heero came. "In about two years' span-..."

"Have you eaten?" Mercury asked in ease.

"What?" Soleil asked in annoyance as he turned his face to glare at the blond-Heero, and the others could see his resemblance with Duo's behavior. En half-consciously let out a small mewling sound looking at anywhere else beside Mercury's general direction.

"Mercury, this is not the time and occasion to-...!" Soleil looked unusually angry enough to yell, and Mercury easily used the finger ends of his left hand to push the boy's chin up and shut his mouth. Some amazed blinks followed that happening and some spectators thought that someone could actually do that to shut up a Duo...

"You don't have to be particularly angry; didn't you enjoy the show yourself?" Mercury commented. En let out a high-pitched moan with a fearful face.

Soleil stood up to free his chin from Mercury's fingers, "I _DID NOT_ THINK IT WAS A _SHOW_ - ...!"

"Really? But I had a good laugh with yours..!"

At that time En was looking full-blanched but turned his face at the unconcerned merry-looking Mercury elaborating about Soleil's past events he didn't know about.

"You don't have to listen!" Soleil pulled En's head resting his forehead on his front and covered his ears with both hands.

"Hahahahaa... So I convinced good-old-boy Soleil to swallow a XXXXX(1) once because he asked me what's his digestive organs good for if he doesn't need to use them to eat..." Mercury went on uncaringly, which earned frowns and sweatdrops when he mentioned the thing(1).

"And he got this severe stomachache for days as the thing traveled down that he had to crawl like caterpillar all around the dome's floor..." That earned blanched faces as everyone froze. "I admit it was evil of me to laugh for days, but when knowing that he had to force it for two whole days to actually get it out of his rea-..."

"MERCURYYYY!" Soleil turned his head and yelled with a beet red face either of anger or shame, but with enough exasperation.

The blond-evilish-Heero shut his mouth, pausing as the office turned silence, knowing that his spectators' faces had turned to bluish complexion, but there was no instant response that he expected from a particular someone.

"What...?" he asked to himself, "Hmph! No reaction, what so ever? That's what bore me bullying the God's favored toy-...!"

"You-...!" Soleil didn't have to finish his remark, as En bolted to his feet and screamed at the top of his lungs, making Soleil had to cover his own ears while the ex-pilots ducked onto the rose petals covered floor.

En's hysterical screech lasted about a full minute; and by the time he stopped because he's out of breath, everyone was very much on the floor, ducking and covering their ears mostly with closed eyes. Heero was the first regaining his mobility as he fast searched for any distinguishable holes anywhere, fearing that others outside his inner-circle wouldn't actually appreciate it that the boys were such lethal imps; he sighed with relief as he found nothing of the sort. Duo moaned under him, straightened his balled body, as others seemed to do the same.

En was looking exhausted with bleached-coloured face wheezing shallow breaths with face struck with a shock, small beads of cold sweats travelled down to his chin. Soleil was still standing beside him, still with hands covering his own ears, looking dumbfounded staring at En's face with bewildered eyes.

Trowa was still crouching on top of Quatre's balled body half-drowned by the rose petals on the floor, Zechs was propping Noin who's still on her knees, Dorothy and Wu Fei tried to pull themselves up using the sofa and shelf as supports, while Relena and Hilde were still half-sitting on the floor.

The only one looking calm and composed was Mercury who's now sitting straight and composed on the long sofa, with a level face that somehow looked imposing even without showing his eyes.

"O – my - God...!" Lady Une uttered when she looked out the glass wall of her office and saw that everything had a power failure, when the vehicles stopped frozen on the streets as far as she could see; she could imagined that the land-rooted structures like buildings and such were in the same condition as she checked that her intercom and phone lights where dead as well, including the cell-phone that was in her drawer. She just hoped that no airplane got to the same condition in air somewhere near and gave the land an exploding-kiss.

"Yuu-En Kushrenada Nirnuta! You are grounded!" Mercury's voice boomed with such dominating tone that Soleil turned his face sharply at him. En took a slow half-frightful half-unfocused face at him and then collapsed behind like a timber and Soleil's hands reflexively caught his body.

"You intended to use him...!" Soleil hissed after lowering En's unconscious body to the sofa back and was guarding him with both hands on either side.

"Hmph. That ought to happen at least _once;_ and since after he had such episode he would get more control of his emotion afterwards, I'd rather instead of having it occurred because some random emotional-breakdown and he blew it out anywhere anytime and made a major disaster, that we could actually put it to a good use. Don't you think so too, Sariel?" Mercury said levelly.

Soleil was taken aback hearing himself called with that name that he instantly lost his venom; their spectators also got taken aback hearing a distinct name.

"...Kushrenada?" Lady Une gasped; and Soleil quickly stared at her and glanced at Zechs' face that looked like he'd been slapped, it took Noin's hard pull to make him sit again.

Soleil sighed deeply and sat down, waiting for their spectators to take their seats back. "We'll get to that later; right now, we could start the meeting again since _someone_ now think that he's absolutely sure that no one eavesdrop on us?" he pressed his words glancing at Mercury who only chuckled at the remark.

"I'd rather be paranoid than regretting later...!"

"I'd rather you learn to be remorseful once in awhile...!" Soleil retorted with a frown.

"Remorse is not in my Operating System...!" Mercury smirked.

"As well as 'humane'...!" Soleil retorted back.

Mercury chuckled amusedly and tilted his head to the boy's side; "So we are in perfect understanding that I don't need to act like human-beings in any ways in any situation?"; his wide smile looked somewhat like a leer. "It's unfortunate for you that you don't have any use of me anymore, Sariel; nor the other way around...!"

"Stop calling me with that code!" Soleil barked acidly. "I don't need _his_ reminder then, and I certainly don't need to be reminded of _him_ now...!"

Soleil blew out his angry breath once, and proceeded with his catastrophe topic; "So, in 2 years span; all females will be extinct, and that includes animals, and all things that are classified as sexual beings too will lost their females..."

"You mean plants as well?" Lady Une's brows shot up.

"That's ridiculous! I've never heard such a virus...!" Wu Fei tried to cut.

"And that's why no one expecting to face one either, Fei-ji-chan...!" Soleil frowned.

A tired sigh, then he continued. "The phases were different with animals and plants; but the outcome was equally devastating; as you know, animals were almost generally had the same reproduction system with humans, so the effects of the first viral wave were almost the same with the effects on humans..."

"But, with plants..." Soleil frowned and seemingly trying to search for words for some seconds.

"Crops turned sterile and unproductive, the asexual types of plants adapted to the viral infection by reconstructing their system and physical behavior in order to reproduce their offspring and retrieve their nutrients. And you got more predators to count besides those which had teeth and fangs." Mercury smirked. "Wait, there were some plants which later developed fangs, actually... well, they couldn't care less which plant was at first sexual and which was asexual in the end!" he mulled at his thoughts with an excitement; he was genuinely thrilled about what he filed in his memory about the facts he was wording. Like a boy told to elaborate about his outing in a picnic day.

"Some animals were cloned as food supplies, and the others that were not labeled as life-worth were left extinct..." Soleil chewed his lower lip, looking like he was trying to avoid some facts if he could.

"Predators?" Relena mewled, her face was still blanched, and she thought she already didn't want anything to get worse than that.

Soleil glanced at her, knowing her fears, and unconsciously missed that humane reaction so much that he smiled at Relena, trying to calm her even for a little. "You weren't there to witness the meat-eating plants ran havoc on earth's soil, Princess..."

And that's the first time the boy called Relena, and the others didn't find it surprising what he'd entitle her with. She was an icon of peace once, and perhaps still remained in the future's history as only that.

"Oh, and there was this shooting-bullet plant that really shot bullet-like spores into flesh, which will reconstruct their hosts into jelly-like substance with color ranged from blackish-green to yellow and reddish-purple when the spores started to sprout out from the altered-skin...and that-thing became literally running-plant...!" Mercury chuckled amusedly, being literally in his head alone.

"Ignore him." Soleil stated levelly as he looked forward again but his eyes were staring at a distant future in his mind. "The main point is that you should prevent the virus to be released to the open, and you could probably avoid anything else that came with it later."

"...and that happened in the mean time?" Zechs frowned.

"We calculated and re-calculated and again; and we belief it should happen between this time and sometime after the end of next month..." Soleil tilted his head a little to the left; one of Duo's habitual gestures he carried out unconsciously.

"That left us less than 50 days!" Noin pointed.

"Yes, Ma-am..."

"What makes you so sure?" Lady Une frowned, openly prying for more information.

"The database of historical events was pretty much destroyed in our time; we had to scrape ancient cables and rotten hard-wares to find the clues. And although we couldn't be sure from the insufficient data we got, but there was this flight passenger list data that unfortunately couldn't be traced of which flight or its time of flight anymore; but the list should be from this span of time... and you shouldn't find difficulty to trace it here, right?" Soleil answered, sounding in circles; and anyone who was familiar with Duo's behavior could recognize that the boy was preoccupied enough about something else in mind.

"Which was...?" Lady Une asked.

"Uhmm... there was this one name that caught our attention. One 'Ned Eesrever'...who canceled her/his ticket to the moon after having a fight in the phone with the ticket-clerk over it for days...and remembering how that person was really persisting to get that said ticket, but never claimed it; it was really notable..."

"Ned Eesrever?" Lady Une arched her left brow; the name didn't tick in her brain. But for all she knew that could be a made-up name.

"...Hey... that's..." Hilde started with wide eyes.

"...from backward!" Relena gaped too.

"...'reverse EdeN'...!" Lady Une realized it too.

The room fell silent for some moments as its occupants were drown in their own thoughts, ignoring Mercury who was still ranting about the evolved animals and plants he thought were exciting enough to watch when those creatures devoured each other or humans or even metals and buildings.

"Why moon? This Ned canceled it anyway... You thought this Ned was a 'she', didn't you?" Lady Une didn't miss that Soleil said 'her' first despite the masculine name.

"Wait a minute. You could escape to outer space if the earth became uninhabitable, right?" Duo asked fast enough to cut whatever answer formulated in Soleil's mind. Duo's bright hoping eyes turned wary when Soleil stared at him with shaded wide eyes; he then remembered that the boys said that they didn't even know what outer space looked like. The realization chilled him to the bones that Duo lost his words instantly.

"...There was no escape. Outer space was not an option anymore. People didn't travel out of the atmosphere anymore...!" Soleil stared at something imaginary floating between him and his own feet. "We chose this time because it all started from here. At the end of next month, any transportation into or out of this earth would be cut off."

"Cut off?" several voices asked in the same time.

"Yes, there was this mechanical-means placed on the Earth's orbit that sealed the atmosphere and prevented anything to pass through, they were like satellites or such... We didn't know whether those things were created to seal the Earth because somebody knew about the air-borne virus that already released in the Earth or to actually prevent such virus to arrive to the Earth from the outer space, but was fail at that. And the seal also cut off any signal of communication to/from outer space as well, so they couldn't ask for help from the Colonies to destroy the things. Thus, the seal had its own role in the human extinction, whatever it was meant at first...!" Soleil chewed his lower lip again. "But one thing we're sure of, those things were not made in a short time; so that meant that these whole linked events were planned and massively involved many people or groups to conduct..."

"Don't tell me those ÆS-..." Duo's mutter was unfinished.

"How long is your era from ours, exactly?" Trowa suddenly asked with a calm voice.

At that, Mercury suddenly stopped his rant. He stilled like a statue, as if anticipating his long awaited moment to come true.

Soleil closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. After he paused for some long seconds, he answered.

"I was one year old when Father deceased..." he started slowly, as all eyes turned to Duo. Duo widened his eyes reflexively with the 'it wasn't me' stare.

"...and Father was deceased in the age of 197 years old..."

"WHAT?" Duo yelled reflexively, caring less about the people's eyes that were now centered to the boy again.

"Father was the first immune human they found, and became the source of the vaccine... along with the other immune men later; but the only one who survived when the virus evolved again..."

"...So they made him God...!" Soleil elaborated heavily.

"...-...-...what?" Duo asked almost levelly.

"In such closed environment and hysterical communities facing extinction, Father ruled as the highest valued life and had the power to decide which ones to keep living and to be sacrificed-..."

"Wait! I said wait!" Duo flailed his arms. "Since you were so repeatedly making sure that the future me was INSANE, are you saying that the humans who got immunized got their mental disturbance from _**me**_...?" Duo pointed at his own head.

". . . . . from the vaccine. Yes." Soleil glanced at him and affirmed it apathetically.

"So, WAIT! What makes you so sure IT was from ME...?" Duo tried to stand up but Heero's hands pulled him back onto the sofa.

"Are you satisfied with the answer, Uncle Trowa, or do you have any more questions?" Soleil glanced behind from the ends of his eyes, openly ignoring Duo.

Trowa stared for several seconds, "I might ask the question Duo asked?"

Mercury's smile bloomed freakily.

Soleil frowned and refrained himself from che-ing at Mercury's direction, he just gave the stilled platina-blond an acidic glance.

"...Father made some decisions based on unstable emotions and his deprivation of his romance, that He had contributed to the scale of victims in particular areas and incidents..." Soleil elaborated as if he was reading some undecipherable reports, and left his sentence unfinished.

". . . . . . . romance?" Hilde quipped, she couldn't picture Duo being all rose-colored while fighting and killing. _Massacre-ing...!_ A little voice whispered in her head as she recalled about the doujins again.

Soleil's frown looked pained now, and his lower lip left bruised by his teeth. "Otou-san went missing after they fought several days before today, the day we showed up at the apartment; and he was never to be found again, and father was so desperately trying to find Tou-san that any mislead to finding him would cause massive deaths and destructions, to his last breaths...-" -_and He was still wanting Heero to come back, since He'd still made sure that they made En even long after He died_; his mind supplied.

Mercury's smile bloomed wider, and it bothered him greatly.

"Wha...?" Duo was gaping so wide that it hurt his jaw-muscles.

"You keep repeating 'they' while using the past-tense... as if you were not involved in any of the facts you're saying...!" Heero eventually spoke, with a very disturbed frown.

". . . . . . there was only the three of us left, Tou-san. . . no one...nothing left, except for the hibernating plant-creatures outside the dome walls...!" and Soleil didn't care about the others' reaction to his elaboration; to them, it's just like hearing another bad-story after a bad-news, right...?

"There's nobody else...! Only The-Form survived in shelters and domes that were left as our guide and energy-source, and the dome walls where I and En was separately kept was impenetrable, and we just met here on the landing site and I belief I might have gone insane to some extent, and although I myself wouldn't bet on me, but I would NEVER bet on The-Form either... -Mercury if you DARE-!" Soleil sounded very disturbed in the end, and suddenly stood up when Mercury stood up too.

". . . and . . ." Mercury said very softly and slowly, as if relishing the wonder of excitement he felt at the moment; cocking his head to his left side still with his wide smile plastered like an engraving on his white face. ". . . I . . . really want my pilot back . . . !"

". . . 01!" his face tilted a little to Heero's direction, and Duo instantly pulled Heero's gun from its holster in a flash, standing like a barrier in front of Heero who was still sitting on the armrest of his seat.

"Duo...!" Heero warned with widened eyes.

"What?" Duo leered with his God-of-Death's eyes, as euphoria pumped adrenalines into his veins, and he too knew that he was already half insane since long before this. "Wouldn't it be _you_ who made Heero disappeared...?". And he could sense rivalry from before it arrived in front of his face, as well.

Mercury hissed his amusement from between his smiling lips and clenched teeth. "I might . . ." he said slowly. "But I never found him as well . . . and every calculation I digested always ENDED with _you,_ 02 . . .!"

"...digest?" Hilde echoed, looking as perplexed as the others when they tried to summon their will to pull their own weapons –anything that could be counted as weapons- but couldn't.

A gasp. "...he's Zero-!" Quatre gasped out looking half-conscious in Trowa's arms.

-'what evolved of it'...

Soleil gripped his fists at the sides of his thighs tight enough that his fingers letting out cracking sounds. He couldn't...-

"Yesss . . . I am Zero-system . . ." Mercury's smile started to curve slowly at its ends; ". . . in humanoid-form . . .!"

-...his main directive was to survive. If he went against Mercury now... CRACK, his fingers snapped. _Right, life needs sacrifices; Equivalent Trade_... He stood still.

A puff of air started from around Mercury's feet, and traveled along the surface of the rose petals on the floor to Duo's direction. And the petals wilted and partly incinerated, and Heero threw Duo back onto the sofa before the sickened colored petals reached Duo's feet, snapping the gun from Duo's hand in the way.

The moving air stilled, as Mercury's smile now lost its curving end seeing Heero took Duo's position with the gun in hand. And he knew that Heero's shooting finger was already pressing the trigger.

". . . but 01 wants no war-toy . . .!" Mercury said sounding like a child.

Heero narrowed his eyes, "I don't want to go to another war!"... and there was no bullet coming from his gun barrel, and he squeezed it tighter to the point where he thought his finger or the trigger would give up anytime now...

"I can wait...!" Mercury turned facing to the floor, sounding less menacing and just almost inhumane. "I've waited for almost two centuries while searching for my 01... to the point where I had to babysit _his_ pets...!"

Soleil gritted his teeth at the last word intended for him and his brother but didn't move any other way.

Mercury turned his face up 'looking' at the sky outside the building, losing his creepy smile. "And if you could still meet with the Old-men, tell them not to even think about giving Zero some-program akin to feelings...? It might end up as a catastrophe!" he mumbled as if to himself.

"Oh, I even learned to be patience too... To even patiently waited for _you_ to make another 01 as _your_ last effort to fulfill _your_ self-deprivation..."

Soleil glanced acidly at Mercury when En was mentioned.

". . . but he's partly Kushrenada, so I don't want him...!" Mercury tilted his face to Duo's direction with an almost amused smile. "_You_ really had me there, 02...!"

-...and there's still no bullet coming out...! Heero's inner voice screamed while his mind almost turned blank.

Mercury moved his feet and walked to him slowly, staring down at his smaller posture for some time, as Heero held the gun with both hands when Mercury started moving from his previous spot. The slight tremors and showing veins and contracted muscles on his hands were evidences that Heero was pulling the gun's trigger with all his might.

"You're only hurting yourself like that..." Mercury commented softly, enjoying Heero's obstinateness of killing him with the gun in his hands; even though his hands had started to change color to a sickening bruise color. Mercury knew that Duo was clinging to Heero's shirt from behind, too; with such a thick aura of possessiveness it sickened him... but he refrained himself from getting rid of that human as of now. He had all the time in the world to play with that human later, he didn't want his 01 to turn against him. Not after what he'd gone through to at last find one.

A trickle of blood coming out from Heero's nostril...

Mercury stared at it from behind his eye-covering, and a sense of possessiveness stirred from something deep inside him; he never felt something like that, and sought that small line of red liquid from 01's lips with his left hand, ignoring Duo's gnarl; and his universe centered to that red colored warmth smeared on his fingertips. He tasted it with a lick, and his senses digested the information. A pure whiteness assaulted his readings, and he could sense every smallest particle of his form jolted in the euphoric-shock, and for a short moment he could tell that he was _alive_, for he never felt like that before. . . . and he wanted more of that sensation.

"Mercury..." Soleil's silent call brought his mind into a form again, and he knew that the boy wouldn't allow of what he wanted to do. Not now.

So he imprinted that directive to his every particle: _not now_.

"...not now..." he whispered softly, and bent down to kiss Heero's left cheek gently, relinquishing that sense of euphoric jolts from his reading as their surfaces brushed. And Duo's presence was so sharp he felt in his surrounding almost like freezing flames; anger, and murderous intention, and crazed possessiveness... but still humane; still of a human being's.

Mercury smiled at Duo passed Heero's shoulder, and pulled back.

"I won't bother your business, and let you be for the time being. Just keep in mind that I see humans as the lowest beings, and remember to avoid contact with me or I will spare no time to even think before banishing you from your lowly existence." He said lightly.

"Boy, I won't help. So don't come to me...!" he continued with a louder voice.

"Bye, Mercury!" Soleil said apathetically.

"But I have all the patience in the world and that-world. I can wait forever, 01...!" Mercury chuckled a smile at Heero, then gave a slow nod, and left. The supposed to be dead-electric doors swished open at his departure. "Nice trick with the petals, though..." he smirked passed his shoulder before the doors swished close.

". . . . . Father said roses kept evil-spirits away...!" Soleil muttered glumly. But Mercury wasn't a spirit; he was a Form, one of the earliest of all Forms. The chances against him came close to nil; Soleil clenched his jaws.

A worried voice of Duo calling out to Heero brought him back from the depth of his fears. He jerked himself to awareness, looked down when his hands let out dull cracking sounds as he reflexively tried to unfurl his fists. He hummed his complaint as he inspected them; examined his knuckles for a couple of seconds, turned his fists facing up again, Soleil pulled his fingers open, ignoring the louder crack sounds and the slight discoloration showed on his skin; knowing those wounds would soon disappeared. A small moan heard from En's direction, so he fast turned to where his brother lied on the sofa still looking fast asleep. So En felt that discomfort called pain from his wounds too.

"Sorry..." he muttered.

A dull thump on the sofa to his left, followed by a shuffling rose petals sound told him that Zechs had dropped back to his seat while Wu Fei dropped to the floor. "Please don't try to stand against Mercury... I won't allow it!" he muttered softly, ignoring the others small commotion around those two asking whether they're alright while they tried to catch their breaths back.

Moving his feet slowly, he walked to where Heero was still standing as Duo's barrier; his face was beyond pale but his eyes still burned with determination as if Mercury was still in front of him, and he stood frozen like a dead statue, except that blood was trickling down freely from his nose. Two lines of red liquid now... Duo was pulling his shirt desperately from where he sat, half embracing Heero's body from behind, looking half aware like he just had a sharp blow to his head.

Soleil stared him through Heero's rigid body; the room felt like it was operating in slow motion. He frowned, checking his nervous system in a flash; Mercury dared to actually brush him, too...?

It's just a long game to him... a voice pointed out in his mind. Right, a life-long game that never meant to be ended, he thought.

"Toucchama..." Soleil whispered, grasping Heero's hands with his both smaller hands; willing Heero's shocked nerves to loosen up. "...please don't excite Mercury again? He'd seen the lowest acts human beings could conduct to their own kind, and your existences are no more than just pests to him..."

The gun fell to Soleil's left hand and he wasn't surprised finding it out of shape and out of service for good.

Some sense came back into Heero's eyes, and he stared at Soleil's face somewhat. The boy smiled to him; "My objective is to survive. I have to keep En survives. I'm sorry..." he said apologetically.

"You've done great if you're still alive after attacking Mercury, Toucchama... Please rest now...!" Soleil let go Heero's slightly trembling hands, and Heero fell behind unconsciously to Duo's waiting hands. Duo snapped his eyes to Soleil's calm smiling -albeit tired looking- face, but he lost whatever retort he was about to say when he witnessed the others fell unconsciously one by one.

"Father..."

Duo gasped with enough fear at Soleil's call; embracing Heero's body protectively with arms and legs. Soleil smiled sweetly to that, it was endearing to him in some way.

"You're not taking him from me-!" Duo started, but Soleil cut his hysterical fit before it really exploded.

A gentle hushing sound...

A couple of cold fingertips on Duo's temple...

And Duo followed the others to a dreamless realm.

"Good night, Father..." Soleil whispered, brushing Duo's head gently several times. And frowned at the condition of Heero's hands; Heero wouldn't take bruises as wounds, he knew, and fractures or broken bones wouldn't even make him retrieve from his planned schedule if he could still do it, or forcing himself to do it. Soleil stared at En's sleeping form on the long sofa, and back to Heero's hands; he could at least help fixing some broken bones without anyone watching, he thought. So he held Heero's hands and phased(2)-in, forming the visual in his mind and willed the broken bones to rejoin and the fractures to mend. His hearing senses heard Heero's heart beating when the visual of the blood vessel system came into his mind, all the way to his heart.

Soleil cut off his phasing immediately as he pulled himself back a step, letting go of Heero's hands with a surprised yelp. He swayed for a second and dropped on his knees to the rose petals-covered floor, breathing hard and looked somewhat bewildered.

Another moan came from En's direction, and he hurried to stand and determined to get his sleeping brother get out of that building immediately; to a more secluded place where he shouldn't witness what he'd done with the power cut that massive.

With En on his back, he exited the building using the stairs. The people in the building were all unconscious, and so with the people out there. Soleil frowned and realized that it wasn't his doing nor Mercury's doing. It was En... no wonder he didn't sense any commotion down the streets as everything stopped after En's outburst.

His body swayed again, and cursed at Mercury under his breath. The so called 'meeting' didn't go as planned, thanks to Mercury's sudden excitement; but Duo did a part of baiting Mercury's excitement as well. He should've known that the two of them would ignite some explosion even if they were drowned (as long as they were in the same waters). His buckled feet stopped his mind-rant as he bumped his head to a wall to prevent En's body slammed to the said wall. He cursed again as his vision grayed, and he reminded himself that of course Mercury, being his-own self, would include him in the list of his nemesis if he was _Father_'s memento. So he should have been prepared if Mercury decided to brush his mind from the beginning.

"...stupid...!" he muttered to himself, "...damn Mercury..." and forced his feet to walk. He had to take En to a safe place before he woke up and rammed with the guilt of probably causing major disaster. At least he hoped the people were in stasis and not just asleep, so any unfortunate soul in some hospital whose life depending to a now shutdown life-support system wouldn't die because of it.

...and no plane around the area which pilot was now in stasis while it was in the air, for that too...

...or... someone who was in the midst of almost falling down from someplace high when he got into the stasis, too... that he couldn't get a grip to safe himself and just continued to fall freely from that said someplace high...

...or anyone that was swimming or drowned in the river behind the Preventer's building, he surely wouldn't appreciate it if he was swimming one day and suddenly lost consciousness, and even though not dead by drown while unconscious, but found himself carried along the river stream to another town or the sea when he woke up...

Soleil chuckled at his own thought, but his vision went black all of a sudden, he cursed in his mind before registering the damp ground his body fell onto, but still felt safe enough as En's body warmth seeped through their clothes from behind his back.

He shouldn't have brought Mercury along into the meeting; even if the reason was to alert their fathers and the others about what Mercury could do... it wouldn't serve any good if they couldn't stand against Mercury when they had to.

Ignorance is bliss, the _Father_ always said in the tapes he watched; that was the last thought formed in his mind before he lost it completely.

* * *

(1) Saru didn't want you to get a too-graphic image, so just think anything that you don't want to swallow and to be expelled from _there_... -sweats-

(2) about the term 'phase', Soleil will explain it later on... hehe

thanks to Kristy (TKM) for the review, it's the-monkey's supplement to keep writing and _remember_ to post them.

and for everyone who celebrates chinese new year, gong xi!  
(saru is going to skip works to have some time with family too although we got very much behind on schedule... oops. 'guess we just have to take a sprint doing the works after the new year...)


	10. list 10: wherever you are

**The future never lies 'gaku 7 march, 11**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's…too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…some dark things coming ahead_

**10. List # 10: wherever you are …**

_...critical time..._

_...reach critical time..._

_My other-mind keeps reminding me to wake up, 'we' are outside the dome, because I can feel the damp soil under my sprawling body; by now the greens should be running amok the ground and I'll be devoured in approximately 3.038 seconds...that is, if I'm lucky enough that a Calderia finds me and I'd be granted a quick death in its warm bath of sleeping-fluid; it's relatively painless the records said, I won't even realize that I'm dead; just a deep sleep within that colorful comfortable-looking gland, a very long pleasant dream, and no more body...Some records show that Calderia is the most preferable for those who want to commit suicide; I wonder where those humans awareness now, are they still 'there', fused themselves with the plants, or just living in the endless dreams they had under the influence of the plant's fume...? No record states that... I thought Father should be curious enough to put a research on it, though... Oh well, old age wins, I guess. _

_Hmm, what about the worst green?_

_Let's see, there's a very long list in 'the Worst" category... but my favorite is 'Little Sylvan', some called it 'Silueta'... it almost sounded like a person's name, isn't it? Or may be a twin pair of a boy and a girl?_

_Hahaa... so, here's what 'they" do; first they shoot the 'food' with some improving-hormones using their syringe-tentacle; to slow them or put them out? No! On the contrary, to make them VERY healthy and fit and have super-human strength alike to fend themselves LATER -when the hormones already alter the human body so much; including the mind-. _

_So what is a super-human body good for to the 'twin"? _

_A walking bento box? A cocoon of seeds? _

_Here's the best part: after the plant shoot the 'food' with hormones, it will shoot only a tiny inert seed at the base of the skull; when the improving-hormones senses the seed waking up from its inertia, the hormones formulate the human's body to alter some of the hormones to become growth hormone; that's when the human's mind would already feel that he needs the symbiosis between himself and the seed so much that he'd use his superhuman strength to defend himself (and the seed he carries)... Some testimony said that the human felt most alive in that stage. Later on, the body would turn to bluish green complexion to absorb as much UV as it could to grow the seed to hatch; when the seed hatches, there'd be multiple spikes sprouts from the skin. And these spikes are so hard that a spiky limb could be used as a bludgeon to inflate a heavy-armored tank (imagine that...!); now someone might ask me what good are those spikes for the seed, like for real? They're actually cocoons of the hatchlings inside! _

_Hahaha... And the 'twin' score 3, human scores 0! _

_Anyway, the cocoons only needed enough time to break and hatch tiny 'twins' out; and when they do, the altered-human body would sprout clusters of branched leaves and tentacles. The tentacles would root the body to the ground and the body would go into stasis (at that stage, the humans believed that the body had already lost its humane awareness and turned completely into plant moving with just instinct), and eventually when the branches of the tiny 'twins' are strong enough to live by themselves, they'd shoot out in an explosive departure, leaving their rooted 'home' and begin their own saga. The rooted body would stand on its spot with an 'umbrella' of crusty unused dried-membranes and woody leave-alike spikes and broken cocoons. Hence, it's '__**silhouette**__ of a tree or a __**small-forest-**__looking thing'. The rooted body would be covered in very hard woody-roots that it couldn't be cut down; men called those remnants as 'grieving pillars'... they spread all over the area, and later on used as the landmarks to the 'twin'-occupied area; kind of like warning signs. Someone cared enough to the person before he turned into a pillar sometime carved a gravestone of the man's name and put it under the remnant. In a way, it was a more memorable death than being devoured without any remnants left. At least I don't think that they were grieving; they'd served their purpose to complete a life's cycle, that they as men could eventually had off springs too... eventhough it's not human-off springs._

_Now, I don't know why I am out here, nor do I care why..._

"_...Nii-san..."_

_...and about why En is calling out to me through the supposedly unbreakable system..._

"_Nii-san... Come on, wake up; let's see the forest waking up...!"_

_Forest? What forest?_

_He's OUT of his dome...? My other-mind's screaming in my mind, and I jerk my eyes open; and it feels like hell, I'm telling you...! Granted, I'll scold him so that he'd be sorry he ever woke me up-..._

_The cold dampness under my naked feet stops me on my track; I look down and see green grass waving gently in the breeze. It tickles... the grass... Then I realize the blue sky up there. Did I ever mention that the sky in our time was white, cloudless white and shimmering in waves?_

"_Nii-san! Come on, it's almost time!" En called out to me again, but I couldn't see him anywhere._

_I look around and notice the trees by the edge of the cliff, I see 'him' standing under the shade. So, I jogged to his side; my other-mind is screaming that something's wrong, but I thought that I've never heard of a green that manage to grow a real-humanoid spore to lure foods to them. I ignore that my ears' picking up the birds chirping, there are no bird in our time... But this is too good to be REAL! My other-mind keep insisting for me to flee, I can ignore it for now; the silhouette of 'him' is pulling me closer._

_A spur of feeling is welling up inside my chest; at last... at last I can meet 'him'...! My heart beats like crazy, and my chest hurts... my eyes sting and teary... I don't know why I miss 'him' so much that I can ignore my very existence just to be able to meet him. It's not En I'm missing... I know that..._

_My eyes catch a glimpse of a spherical blue object under the cliff, it's supposed to be a lake but the lake is made of darkness and shining small objects scatter gracefully in it; outside the lake's shore I see forest of buildings, ...unoccupied buildings that some of them had crumbled. I know I'm supposing to chase after his silhouette, but that lake and that spherical blue object entice me._

"_It's the Earth...!" 'he' says nonchalantly._

_I turn my head to 'him' and know it's not En standing in front of me naked and wet. "...you cut your hair!" My tongue rolls by itself._

'_He' stares at me from the end of his eyes, without emotion, without recognition. "You're not looking for me...!" 'His' voice was silky and apathetic. _

_Of course not; you're not En! My mind wants to scream, but my other-mind keeps my tongue still. I just stare at his graceful figure, listing that 'he' looks a couple of years older than En; short messy brown hair was played by the wind eventhough it's wet. I smell the liquid covering 'his' whole body and realize that it smells like what birth fluids supposed to smell -eventhough I don't know why I could've known that as a fact-_

_A pair of warm liquid-tracks trail down my cheeks..._

_I'm crying..._

En's large blue eyes widened before my eyes, I felt a couple of warm drips fell on my face before he pulled himself backwards and toppled over the bed edge with a silent yelp. The warm liquid traveled along the length of my tightened lips and I could taste it as I parted them slightly.

Salty.

Confirmed.

Tear.

"...why're you crying above my face?" I asked.

"Be...because..." En grabbed the thick bed-cover to pull himself up, and knelt by the bed with both hands on the mattress, as if trying to reach out to me. I was hoping he'd say something like 'I thought you'll never wake up' or such, but...

"Nii-san... was crying too..." he averted his eyes with enough flush on his white skin. Didn't he know that he'd attract enough 'beasts', making expression like that?

"I did not...!" I said firm enough.

"Yo... you did too...! In your dream!" his eyes showed genuine worry, and I guessed we WERE connected in some ways... didn't Father make sure of that? My other-mind sneered disgustingly, and I couldn't help but turned my face from his open face. He was too much for something like me.

"Don't exert yourself over something unimportant...!" I said flatly.

"...Nii-san is important..." I heard him mumbled under his breath, but I knew he feared me of tossing him aside, so he'd do whatever I said. He's too much of innocence for me... sometimes I just wanted to tear him down to pieces; Mercury knew well what kind of 'person' I was, I guessed. That's why he liked toying with me too.

Recalling about Mercury made me aware that I was in Toucchama and Papa's bed; I stared at the sloped ceiling thinking about that.

"...why am I..."

The bedroom door opened and Uncle Wu Fei came in wearing a zebra-striped apron, "Oh, good, he's awake...!" he said to a brightened En who nodded his head lively. "Are you up for a meal together, or do you want to have it in bed?"

I stared wider at the ceiling; something was off, my other-mind whispered to me relentlessly. Cocking my head to see pass the headboard I realized that there was no more holes from when En relapsed with his nightmare. Suddenly I felt like I was in a different room... or world.

"Does your head still hurt? Anything throbbing...?" Uncle Wu Fei looked worried and walked to the bed side; I dodged his offered hand by turning and propped my upper body with an elbow. But I didn't think that my body could be this... stiff? My memory had gaps and I moaned when a sting flared in my brain as I tried to recollect what had happened.

En was instantly at the other side of the bed looking worried sick; he seemed afraid to climb on the bed and jarred my pains.

Wait... pains?

Now that my other hand was on my temple, I noticed the thick bandage around my head.

Uncle Wu Fei sighed as he noticed my baffled expression; "You don't remember what happened?"

"Nii-san... you caught a falling toddler and landed headfirst, saving that baby in your arms... but still throwing yourself from the hotel window of an 8th level was NOT something I recommend you to ever do...again!" En said firmly, he looked angry somewhat.

Hotel window...?

Toddler of what...?

My other-mind cackled behind my head, I touched the back of my head reflexively. Nothing's broken.

And I might had worded it out, since En snorted and said "Your mind's broken...!"

It was probably intended as sarcastic pun, but my other-mind couldn't agree more to that. I stared at En's face; he seemed to be a little remorseful at his words and averted his eyes.

...my mind's already broken since long before YOU existed! I thought to myself and tried to sit up. My vision swayed for some time, I ignored En and Uncle Wu Fei's voices saying something; my other-mind leering that I woke up in another dimension when I saw the still unscathed wall of the bedroom lining the living room. There were other voices coming near and surrounding me, and I stared at several more faces with different levels of worry when I turned my face to my right.

I counted their faces while still ignoring their voices; Toucchama was checking my eyes and touching my head gently, Quatre-sama looked sweetly worried it disgusted my other-mind to some point, Uncle Trowa was behind him like a bodyguard (-of his heart, I realized), ...then, there was Papa looking as if he was a naughty 6-years old boy who just got a big scold-of-his-life near the bedroom door.

What was that...?

"That, what?" I realized I've said it out again when Toucchama asked softly; I turned my eyes at him and just realized that his face was so close with mine I could see my reflection in his deep blue eyes.

"You remember what happened?" Toucchama's voice lost his wary edge, and my other-mind's beginning to rant about the wrongness of it all.

"...I don't care..." I said softly; didn't know whether it was said to answer Toucchama or just to myself.

"Fortunately your physical endurance is way above common humans; Sally said you didn't have deadly concussion or any other extreme injury; the bandage was just for precaution for the bruised bump behind your head; but you're out perhaps because your body sensed the physical shock and decided to reset itself...!" Toucchama said it like he was talking over his laptop; I didn't mind it, but Quatre-sama looked annoyed as he glared at Toucchama's back; Toucchama just ignored him, though.

I didn't think it was worth a smile over, but my lips pulled to the sides by themselves.

"...so, you're up to live again?" Quatre-sama beamed and cued to my other side with his head. I turned my head and saw En was holding the end of my shirt with both hands, stubbornly not climbing to the bed and just spread his upper body as long as he could with lower body dangling on the edge; and I thought that he looked like a drowning dugong that way.

"Baka Nii-san! Don't make me go through _that_ again...!" he barked with wet eyes; and I thought I should be worrying about his emotional development... he wasn't subjected to too many emotions back in the dome; at least there was almost nothing to be crying over back then, nor to be happy over.

"...I don't remember...!" I said slowly; my other-mind was screaming 'get-out' 'get-out' 'get-out' endlessly it's beginning to annoy me.

Toucchama snorted, and said "At least Duo remembers...!" generically.

"...You wouldn't let it pass, would you?" Papa groused near the door, looking annoyed but lost his poison. "...as if you're NOT seeking dangerous path in your line of work yourself!"

Toucchama glared at Papa, and Papa glared back dignifiedly; Quatre-sama stared between them with a 'boys, please...?'-stare. They broke the glaring war, turning their faces to the opposite directions but both had that worried-but-angry-enough-not-to-show-it kind of faces.

So, I got caught in their spousal bickering...? When did _that_ happen?

I tried to line the connection; Papa might have had a job that Toucchama wasn't approve of, (perhaps) I tailed Papa when he's working, and Papa messed up to some extent (probably about that toddler falling from a hotel window of the 8th floor En mentioned), and I seemed to have been the only casualty in the end.

I meant to say something generic to lighten the atmosphere, but my stomach got the better out of me.

Quatre-sama chuckled at the loud rumbling noise, "Can you get up to eat?"

I stared him back with a sarcastic 'what kind of question is that?' and didn't feel it that I was drooling until Toucchama wiped it from my chin with his thumb.

En helped me down, so everyone else just backed away from us automatically. "How long was it...?" I frowned when my feet felt like they're made of plastic.

"A week." En answered.

I tightened my lips; a week blacked out when we need to start finding the culprit and stop the world's end from happening? Nice going, Me! Plus ending up in another dimension of lies-...

A sweet relaxed smile greeted me when we entered the living room; he was sitting on the counter next to the TV with an already modified eye-covering half hidden under the brim of his white cowboy hat.

Mercury!

The said creature put his right forefinger on his lips; 'l-e-t-'s p-l-a-y h-o-u-s-e' he worded slowly, making sure I could catch his lips movements.

"Nii-san...?" En asked in bafflement as I suddenly froze staring at the turned off TV.

I should have known Mercury would play with others' minds, or memories; he could be 'unseen' as many times as he wanted it, and I couldn't break his wall to show him to everyone else. So it seemed like he'd approved with Toucchama's circle; I guessed I should be grateful that he thought he could cut this 'trying to fit in'-game with Papa and made this 'shortcut'. Although, I didn't like it that he'd used guilt on Papa to start with.

At least he didn't sort to violence, I tried to console myself when I remembered that Mercury had wanted Toucchama...-no, a _01_ for himself; my other-mind had fled somewhere I really didn't care, and I sighed deeply.

"Nii-san...? Anything's hurting?" En sounded almost pleading; I really HATED the way Mercury's smile became wider at his voice.

"...you'd feel it if I do..." I brushed him and continued dragging my feet.

En pushed me onto the long sofa in his worry, saying something like he'd feed me and the long sofa was more comfortable for me than the dining chair. The others followed us and somehow we ended up having meal (it's actually lunch) while watching the TV... Though, I was ending up staring at Mercury instead. I couldn't shake the feeling like being in the exhibition box in some zoo with his (covered) staring, but I couldn't do anything if the others couldn't see him, right? And every time I couldn't contain that exposed feeling, I sighed, and asked for some water; thanks to that I got too full with water instead of food...my other-mind would laugh, rolling around in my mind cackling endlessly, when it's back later. But NOT now... somehow I felt like I was left behind.

I sighed again.

* * *

Apparently in the week I was out of consciousness, Toucchama and the others had made the search and collecting information that might be connected to the events we elaborated in Lady Une's office; but still nothing led to the 'Ned Eesrever'-person. I'd expected it so far.

By the way, the energy failure En made was only lasted for another half an hour after we left the office, they said; that's exactly five minutes after they woke up from their black out. So Mercury had calculated that much... I hated to say it, but that Mercury might also had calculated more in his head right now; we might just be like some mice in a maze moving by his design.

"How's your head?"

Speaking of the devil (and I meant it every word), Mercury entered the bedroom door which left open. I only frowned at the ceiling eventhough I knew he wouldn't let me ignore him.

"...You followed us out of the Preventer's building." I said as a fact. "When did you bend their memories and made all these arrangements?"

He knew I was talking about the apartment.

"...in the office..." he smiled down at me while standing at the side of the bed. "We don't need them to be too cautious about our abilities that they'd think of us as bio-hazards, don't you think, Sariel?"

I glanced at him; so he already planned this before he met us in this era (and I thought it's odd enough that I and En landed together, while he was nowhere near), I should've been more cautious than this. I ignored the name he called me with; but a little mind in my head started to wonder whether he actually intended to tease me when I already said more than enough time that I hated it when he called me that, or did he actually liked the (code) name.

"...that's why you had them unconscious; so that your 'implant' could rewrite their memories while they blacked out." I summed. "When did you 'brush' me?" I asked, genuinely wanting to know.

"When you phased-in with 01..." he smiled wider, a little victorious tone crept in his voice.

It just confirmed my suspicion; we are _almost_ the same after all. But it also meant that he far surpassed me in superiority; I forced my anxiety down.

"Why did you hit my head...?" I frowned at him.

"You want me to really throw you out of an 8 stories window while you're unconscious?" he asked conversationally.

I glared at him for a short while. I didn't even want to know what he'd hit me with, after that.

"At least I made everyone on their right tracks...!" he arched one shoulder with his usual smile still plastered on his face.

...so, he'd been here the whole week without anyone's realizing. My heart cringed at the idea; who knew what else he'd implanted in whose mind...? My biggest fear crept out no matter how hard I tried to suppress it; I just had enough fear that he could see and use it as he liked.

"You've done enough, then. Get out...!" I got up from the other side of the bed, and was caught off guard when I turned my feet on the carpet and found him already kneeled so close in front of me. I held myself from gasping in surprise, but I couldn't react fast enough when he grabbed me with both hands and held me flat to his front; his long arms encircled by hips along with my arms, and I didn't try to struggle knowing it's futile. At least I wanted to keep my dignity in front of him.

His face was close enough that our noses touched, he intentionally used the brim of his hat to make a secluded sense by keeping it on my head. I could see my face reflected on his black eye-covering, it was made of a pitch black glassy-substance; perhaps it was a type of carbon he made himself.

I tried to keep my breath slow and steady, knowing he could feel it on his skin.

...I didn't feel his breath in exchange.

"Where is he?" for once his face lacked his smile and looked almost serene.

"He, who?"

"You've met him. Tell me where he's waiting."

I still couldn't feel the puff of air breathing-creatures used to let out when they talked. Didn't he breathe, too?

"I don't know." I answered honestly.

There was a moment of silence, and I thought I should be ready if he decided he could just snap with me in his arms.

"...I could search your dream just to find the link back to him, and that means I'll keep you unconscious until I find it..." he said softly without sounding like threatening.

"Somewhere where you could see the earth in a lake of stars." I said flatly.

"...lake of stars?"

"He said so 'it's the earth'..." I closed.

Mercury paused for a moment.

"Anything else?"

I tried so hard not to think of anything else!

"...he said I wasn't looking for him." I said.

It worked, Mercury jerked himself from me.

"Of course it's not _you_...!" he sounded almost jealous.

So, it's you looking for him? I thought that, but didn't voice it. He looked annoyed to some extent, and I wonder whether I crossed his line; but then he stood and left without another word.

After I was positive that he's nowhere in the apartment building, my knees buckled and I plopped down on the bed. I didn't realize that my body feared Mercury that much.

"What was that all about?"

I jumped in surprise and found Toucchama's concerned face frowning at me when I turned around.

"What, what...?" I asked back and hoped that my smile wasn't awkward.

"Don't try to sound like Duo..." Toucchama frowned deeper. So my smile was awkward enough to raise his suspicion, apparently.

"Gomen..." I nodded to him slowly.

"Who is 'he'?" Toucchama asked again.

"He?" I snapped my head up wondering whether Toucchama was actually asking about Mercury, was that mean that Toucchama had been realizing Mercury was around all this time, or did Toucchama just mean about the little interrogation he had on me.

Wait.

If Toucchama heard our little conversation, didn't that mean that Toucchama could sense (see?) Mercury all this time?

"...the one your-devil pressed out of you just now."

My-devil, my other-mind chuckled derisively at the words; and at me for even thinking of Mercury exactly as that. You know, he's almost looking like your angelic-persona, Toucchama; I thought to myself.

"...you could see him." I stated.

Toucchama climbed to the bed and sat cross-legged behind me. "Since everyone seemed they couldn't, I acted that way too... it's just like a blurry bent air without actual shape, but my senses could feel him there." he added.

I just stared at his boyish face (now that I had Mercury's face as comparison), and didn't know what to say.

"...so, who is 'he' he wanted to find desperately?"

"His 01..." my other-mind took over, and I knew why...

"It's not me?" there's a dark-layer shadowing his deep blue eyes, but he covered it with a deep frown. He looked disturbed; perhaps because he might've acted like he wanted Toucchama as the substitute for his pilot.

"...his ideal pilot." I offered. "If he couldn't find that one, then Mercury would take any 01 as substitute for the moment..." my other-mind cued enough that it was Toucchama Mercury had wanted.

Toucchama stared at my eyes for a moment; I wondered what he saw in me, but I didn't care anyway what rotten parts of me he could see.

"...or En..." he ended.

"Or En..." I agreed. It's better you than my-En, my other-mind hissed acidly with its possessive tone; I wondered if Toucchama could see it as well since he nodded (to himself) and left me alone in the bedroom.

I heard the front door opened and then closed, and the apartment was empty except for me. And I realized I still hadn't asked Toucchama about what he knew of the situation, or what he _didn't know_ _anymore_ for that matter. If I suddenly said something like Mercury might have the grip to their minds already, would that be alright...?

I really didn't like Mercury being here; he kept messing the equation as he pleased...

* * *

A couple of hours passed slowly after Toucchama left me. I thought since I wasn't really recuperating from my 'fall' (I suspected Mercury tampered with my body when he found me unconscious to fit his plan) then I should be strong enough to make something I could nimble on, and watch the TV alone.

Exactly after I put the empty bowl on the table, Papa stormed in with a delirious mask on his face, banging the already creaking door to the wall.

"WHERE IS HE?" he barked.

I stared, not knowing what exactly happening.

Papa stormed to the bedroom, and the rest of the apartment; I knew he was looking for Toucchama. But that delirium in his eyes...was it mercury's implant hatched after being triggered by something specifically intended to be the key...? I frowned.

Not finding Toucchama in the apartment, Papa stood in front of me, looking down with enough hatred he's ready to lash out (again).

"Tell me where he went!" Papa ordered flatly.

"I don't know..." I answered honestly. I stared into his crazed eyes and got a wisp of Mercury's trace he evidently left there so I'd find out.

Papa didn't say anything else, only staring down at me with darkened eyes; a storm in his dilated pupils. My other-mind pointed that Papa always had enough weapons with him; he's going to kill Toucchama eventually. But then, Toucchama also never leave his Glock behind; so they'd kill each other sooner or later. My other-mind started a frantic cackle and I ignored it, I had to concentrate on Papa right now; if I could stop him... Could I with my current condition? My stomach churned when I realized that it was part of Mercury's design.

Papa turned around in a snap, and I jerked knowing what he thought he'd do to Toucchama.

"Wait, Father...!" without thinking I called out and tried to hold on to his long jacket; then I realized what I'd called out. Papa too, had realized the distance in that word, I figured; even though I really didn't think about _Father_ like he was the source of others' misfortune, but some part of me thought that I wouldn't want to relate myself with _Father_ if I could...because _Father_ was never my father.

Papa stopped short and took a pause before reacting, I knew I'd made a grave mistake when he turned his face and smiled sweetly at me, but his eyes held enough murderous intention. He bent down and cupped my face.

"Don't make me kill you too, Son...!" he hissed sweetly, with every intention to deny my existence with his sarcasm; and I felt that he already killed a little part of me with those words.

I let go his jacket and stared him sadly.

Papa snorted contemptuously, "Aren't we all sorry to have been created into this world?" He made the comment as he saw the expression I was making; then he left the apartment leaving the door ajar. I knew this Papa didn't want me to be created in the first place; I kept wondering for what purpose did Father created me back _there_... to fulfill his delusion that another-him would never leave another-Heero? If En was never created, then wouldn't that mean that I was never wanted since the beginning...? If I prevented Papa from losing his-Heero now, wouldn't that mean that I was negating the very reason of my creation?

I wondered if this was considered a suicide act on my part... since I knew, no matter what happened to Toucchama here, Papa might still create En in the future...but perhaps not me.

I thought I heard a white-noise covering my other-mind; my equation was never balanced.

..._I_ was never balanced.

"...I'm sorry..." I whispered to the door after how long moment I didn't remember had passed; and stood there for another long time not knowing what to do.

Where is everyone at a time like this? I never felt being this alone even when I was physically alone in the dome for all my live before.

* * *

Guilt inclined to backfire into self-justification.

Mercury knew that...

And I knew he must be watching his mice running frantically in the maze he designed from somewhere not far, and enjoying every bit of it.

* * *

this is a relatively short chapter, hu...? saru typed this while having meal-breaks... so the content kind of felt like a break too (bored...bored...overwhelmed...) -sigh ...more works! right...

THANKS for reading

A.N: saru needs tako-hands...and more eyes... why not clone myself? T.T

the gallery's deadline is already passed about 10 days ago; still not ready with the artworks...

saru missed the Museum's launch because things just piled up and undone...

right hand and tailbones are hurting because saru's making the artwork on the carpet (it's the size of A0, mind you... making it with a drawing pen number 01!)

hungry... it's been raining for these last days... currently needing some praise to lift heart up...

having fights with saru's other minds; started a subject and they ranted nonstop about the schedules and things saru could and could not do and SHOULD do and things that are just not relevant with tasks at hands... (writing fanfic is just a way to stop fighting with self)

said something miss-understandable (is that a word?) in the comic-illustrators gathering 3 days ago...currently half cursing self for it and half laughing #ss-off over the faces saru got in return

stressed but happy, bored but overwhelmed

and a fellow comic illustrator who was a bouncy extrovert asked saru what it's like to be a bipolar; and saru said 'perhaps all of the opposites of yourself'... and she looked at saru with almost a jawdrop when saru tried to explain self... 'am I that weird to you?' saru asked; she just said "...oh, okay..." with expression between amazed and incomprehension;

she might not think of how many minds saru could have over an idea, and how many ideas saru could think of over a subject, or how many contradictions saru could formulate in minds... it's tiring to focus minds or center myself, so it's easier to not think, or to not care; end discussion. and everyone's laughing happily ever after...they might think that saru's ability to make easy sarcasm over matters is part of saru's sense of humor, but it's not... it's a fight with different minds and saru was caught in the middle; but they wouldn't understand it if saru tried to explain. well, so be it... let's have a good laugh over matters... other minds are laughing too, so it's probably alright to call it sense of humor

if anything's good about saru, perhaps it's the contentment... when saru is depressed, saru is content to be depressed. procrastinating is never good for anything, though...

want some sweets...

oh, anyone likes chicken-claws?

we're currently half expecting and half wanting to flee the exhibition in April... they're going to hang _our-heads_ on the wall (kinda feeling like we're facing the guillotine too...since we're the only illustrators with manga-style, while the other participants are mostly **anti**-manga-style illustrators... why did the gallery invited _us_, by the way? ...yep, they're absolutely going to grill us in the discussion-session in april-16...!) -downheartedtothemax-

saru thought of continuing the comic-book that we'd postponed while making the museum-project and the exhibition-artworks... and got a very long "..."(dot-dot-dot)-moment when finding that the pages and storyboards are missing somewhere (whaaaaa-...! they're supposed to be in the work-related paper-stacks...but not there...! -trying to panic with empty stomach-)


	11. list 11: whatever you do

**The future never lies 'gaku 7 march, 11**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's…too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…some dark things coming ahead_

_This chapter should be occurring between what happened in chapter 10 :D_

**11. List # 11: whatever you do …**

"I wouldn't think too much about it, if I were you..." Saline said while puffing the smoke through her plump lips -which I always thought that they were too thick-covered with lipstick-, she always smiled with teasing eyes knowing my thought when I stared at her lips.

"...no need?" I asked half-distractedly, she intentionally gave me a faraway-kiss and smiled again.

"Yep. Since someone from the _shadow_ is purposely making you the scapegoat, you're positively a walking-dead as of now...!"

I narrowed my eyes at her.

"It didn't matter what you're going to do or say to clear up your name to them, since they wouldn't care either way. They need a sacrifice-goat to maintain their 'peace' and you had won the ticket, My-Duo...!" she inhaled the smoke deeply and exhaled, then chuckled, the cigarette-pipe's eyes were glinting back at me under the lamp light.

"...and you find it worth-watching, right?" I frowned.

Saline arched one of her shoulders slowly; "All of you guys are worth-watching...!"

She smiled wider when she caught the glint in my eyes at what she implied; I really didn't like it that somehow she had been watching our movements since before the war... or at least that was what she told me. She said she found us, the Gundam pilots (or would-be pilots at such time), were fascinating enough that it had worth her time. It's as if she saw us as exhibition animals or such.

"So you have any idea why they tried to blame me for the murder of a crime-lord's lover...?" I tried to bend the subject from _us_.

"If I were the culprit, I'd pick you because you'd be resilient enough and a hard target..."

"So it's to buy them time? Time for what...?" I stared at the carving of a fairytale-dragon on her cigarette-pipe; the details were always fascinating to see.

"What for, you think?" she asked back.

"Hey, you're the informant who called me saying you got something that would interest me...!" I objected.

Saline chuckled amusedly. "Exactly!" she said, "Since I'm the one who called you, so it's up to me what info I want to give you...!"

"...aren't you at least cared a bit that your-little-Duo is walking with a guillotine on the neck...?" I grumbled.

"Now, now..." she patted my head affectionately, "Pouting is cheating! There are some things that even I wouldn't want to interfere, alright?"

I che-ed, usually making childish act would make her spill everything I asked of her, seemingly not in this matter. I always wondering what was her real occupation for knowing that much about the world in general; even the things the world wouldn't know, that was.

"Knowing you, you'd persevere..." she said, "It's not so much different with the war time for you, right? Or is it _different_?" her grey eyes glinted with a sharp light and I stared back at her challenging eyes. I wouldn't want her to pry about my home (that much she said she wouldn't watch like a soap opera on some TV), but a thought popped out in my head that she might know about that Ned-guy Soleil mentioned. No! Better not giving her bread-crumbs to the subject; she'd definitely follow whole-heartedly if not forcefully.

"How's Hansel and Gretel doing? The moon-project should be almost finished by now, right?" Saline deliberately changed the subject seeing the wall I erected in my eyes. One thing I loved of her (yes, loved) was that she knew my limits and never push it when I withdraw, if not for being like another cover for my walls; like a big-sister of some sort, from a twisted fairytale.

"They're fine; they're currently staying at our place..." One thing I couldn't really object outright was that she made names for us in the way she liked it.

"Really? With Wolfie along? But your place isn't that big... Oh, I get it, like a summer camp, right? Might as well call it cramped-camp! ...or is it summer-cramp?" she brightened at her own pun and giggled.

And Wu Fei probably going to reel up being associated with a wolf instead of a dragon, I thought; but he'd positively agreed to wolf instead of that fisher-monkey I'd chosen...the now gone fisher-monkey that I loved.

"Say, how's my little-red-eyed Riding-hood doing? I always wonder what he'd be like aside from mission-related life..."

And I felt my pout came back at the mention of Heero; I was wondering what he'd do when he knew some woman gave him a nickname of that... Red-eyed...she probably took it from the Gundam's eyes.

"What exactly are you calling me for, again? It seemed like you're the one trying to spill out info about them from me instead the other way around..." I asked flatly.

Saline laughed pleasantly; "Oh, come on; I was just trying to cheer you up. You're not alone, alright? They'd take care of you, so you don't have to worry about the shadow's movement...!" she ruffled my head.

_Especially since now I'm not ALONE...!_ My mind hissed, but I didn't show it; if Saline called me on her own, it meant she had something big to give me, it's just up to me to rub her right spot to give it...she usually bartered info, but if she willing to not gain anything then I should try the effort.

I stifled a sigh; "It's been on my mind for a long time. Why'd you call the criminal-world as 'shadow'? It's not as if they're combined into a single mass, right?"

"What are you saying? Everybody is a shadow...!" Saline said childishly with a closure tone.

"Hey, informants are supposed to be providing info, not making questions...!"

"Ah-ah...! I'm spreading bread crumbs, My-little-Duo!"

_...might as well call me 'My-little-pony'_, my mind retorted.

"And? What are you going to give me in the first place...?" I began to get anxious, and she enjoyed the game.

Saline smiled again, propping a hand to her chin, and swaying the cigarette-pipe in the air like it was a magic wand; and instead of shimmering magical dust, it's smoking tobacco ashes. "Here's a question: what is an Arab-man doing in Chinatown?"

"Wha~at?" I gaped at her.

"I'm not being racist! Just find a clue for yourself...!" she prompted.

"I'm not here to play riddle...!" I objected.

"Oh, it's not a riddle...!" she whispered on my ear as she stood up and stole a peck on my cheek. And just like that she left the table.

"Wait-...!" I called behind my back, but couldn't find her in the crowd.

"Here's your order...!" a waitress put some breakfast menu on the table and some take-out in a paper bag, and I half-gaped at the girl. "It's paid." she informed, cueing to the direction Saline had disappeared; "More coffee?" she offered.

"Uhhh... alright." I lifted my half-empty cup. "What's with this sudden crowd, anyway?"

The waitress took a glance at the crowd in the diner. "Apparently, some ones are trying to avoid morning-crowd upstairs...!" she closed it with a wide smile. Well, for an underground classic-themed diner with jazz or blues aura all over the place, wasn't it too early to be crowded? But I let it passed, since my stomach wasn't objecting.

* * *

"...what's an Arab-man doing in Chinatown?" I sat on my sofa in my other-office of crummy-but-cozy rat hole where I put mostly of my paperwork and other things necessary to live.

'everybody is a shadow', Saline's words kept repeating in my mind, because it nailed me right on the head; I was living a shadow too...

"...hiding! Right?" I asked the air, it's not fresh air but not moldy at least; it's smelled just as she called it, smelled of shadow.

I stared at the take-out I put on the drawer, I had a feeling that I wouldn't want to open it any time soon, but I knew it was her means to give me the info (plus I got a take-out for lunch aside from the breakfast, shouldn't I feel happy? My stomach was happy...while my mind pointed that ordering a take-out and breakfast at the same time should've looked suspicious for someone who's perceptive enough). And why did I say it like there's someone tailing me everywhere? But of course someone would tail me everywhere, right? Since it's made like I was connected with the death of a crime-lord's lover...!

I cursed.

Might as well think about 'food' instead of them...!

I took the paper bag and opened it; the evil-winking smiley on the burger cover greeted my eyes first.

"Oh, you ordered an extra-large super chili...!" I half-complained to the air, the merry-looking evil-smiley in red print didn't answer. Of course it wouldn't answer, it's a question; a voice in my mind pointed.

A graphic-line of thought formulated in my mind: red print = red = red-eyed Riding-hood = Heero; evil-smiley = doing something 'evil' as in 'in shadow' as she put it = secretly; extra-large = something very big; winking = conspiratorially = deliberately doing something very big behind my back that he wouldn't want me to know.

I blinked.

And fell hunched down on the table.

"...Saline, I'm NOT an elementary kid to be given such bread-crumbs of clues, don't you think? Frankly, it's not even a clue...!" After checking that there was nothing sort of any real-looking info in the package and in the burger (not that I wanted it there), I stared accusingly at the red-winking-smiley. "What kind of clue are you?"

I'd expected at least a writing on a small paper, stuffed in the soda straw, even though it should be obvious-looking (plus there's a chance I might choke on it or swallowed it if I wasn't looking carefully enough), but it's the stupidest way of exchanging info I'd be willing to except; "It's not like I expected something as big-sized as a man hidden in a burger, right...?" I made a sarcastic comment to myself, and I paused.

"Hu...?" I obviously wouldn't want a burger made out of a man-... Wait, that's not right.

Something big the size of a man, an Arab-man... hiding in Chinatown...Heero doing something behind my back...

It's unfolded as if something written by itself in my mind.

"Hu...?" Now I started panicking...

* * *

"Hey..., Duo..." was Wu Fei's usual greets on the phone.

"Yo, wassup, Wu?" Since he called to my safe-line, it must be something important.

"I sent some lists of labs both governmental and individual that might have/had connections with OZ during the war to your e-mail; some of them, mostly, have no longer active; but there are several of them that changed names and owners and activity. I thought you might want to have a look..."

"Hmmm... judging that you send me, I guess it's not some info that any civilian could have access to...?" I tried.

"Well... not all of them, particularly the G-labeled ones..."

I chuckled dryly; "I guess the governments didn't really want their secret playground to be looked into, right? How's Heero doing with his research?" I casually asked mission-related stuff, while actually wanting to know his whereabouts.

"Huh? Didn't he tell you his progress?"

"Umm... we kinda don't talk to each other after that hotel-thing, you know...?" I let him hear the hesitation in my tone.

"Ohh...well..." Wu Fei paused, "I didn't see him often in the office, he's always out to some work-related places; but I thought he'd surely tell you about his findings...?"

"Right, especially since we're living under the same roof, hu...?" I made a sharp retort and quickly regretted it for taking it out on Wu Fei. I cleared my throat and said, "...sorry. I've lots in my mind right now."

"Speaking of things you should be thinking in your head right now,..." Wu Fei didn't seem like he's offended, though; "Do you happen to be familiar with a 'Lucia-X' in anyway?"

I checked my head-database before asking back, "...who?"

"L u c i a (dash) X..." Wu Fei spelled, "Don't ring any bell?"

"Which case is that name associated with...?" I frowned, maybe the shadow? I guessed I never really looked into The Lady's name since her whole figure was somehow had a 'forbidden'-sign; kind of like that Ghostbusters's poster. "Should I search about it?"

"No." Wu Fei's answer was too quick than normal, "If you don't know about that name, you should just concentrate with your own lead. I'll just ask the others about it, since Zechs should know more about the inside of OZ..."

What kind of reasoning was that?

"Why not ask Lady Une about OZ...?" I tested.

"You want to...?"

"No." My answer was too quick too.

"Alright, I e-mailed you some more lists you could look into; some of them were from Trowa, so it should be safe enough..."

Ah, as I thought; the others must be quite worrying about the crime-lord's lover case. Seemed like Saline was right, after all; I wasn't alone now.

"Speaking of which...-" I cut as my mind linked Trowa to Quatre; "Wu Fei, do you know any Arab-man or Arab-family who lived in Chinatown?"

There was a long enough pause before he reacted; "...something about the Triad?"

I blinked at that. "There's an Arab-family in the list of the Triad-members?" I cocked my head to the side as it sounded unlikely even to myself.

"Duo... what kind of lead are you following?" Wu Fei's tone was hinted with warning.

"..." I guessed I didn't expect that, and I felt like I had my face turned into a smiley icon of [:D] right now...while that red-smiley winking back at me; seriously, couldn't he be more obvious than that? "There actually IS...?"

"Hnnnnng... I don't know if it's what you meant; but there's a Persian rug store in chinatown, and an Indian curry booth that I liked... What are you searching, exactly?" since his tone suddenly turned conversationally, and knowing he wouldn't spill anything I'd like to know, I thought I had to just be open with it.

"Something related to Heero in Chinatown?"

"With an Arab-family?" he sounded like he didn't see the connection too.

"Yeahh...-" and I guessed he could catch the 'and I think I couldn't ask Quatre for that matter, either'-part which I left unspoken.

"Then, why don't you ask Heero? If you're asking around behind him, wouldn't it seem like you're making a secret about it?"

Dang. And I thought it was Heero who's keeping secrets from me.

"Yeah, you're right... Thanks, Wu." And I cut the line.

Screening over the lists he e-mailed me, I didn't find any 'Lucia-X' anywhere; so why did Wu Fei bring it up? The only name alike was 'C. Luce' in a list of scientist's assistants in some lab in...

I blinked.

L2?

Suddenly a rush of abstract-colors filled my head; somehow my mind pointing that it had the connection with those letters; but I couldn't really see it. It just left me with the sensation that somehow I felt like I'd seen it somewhere, both the colors and the letters.

I arched my shoulders.

Alright, now...back to Heero...; my mind ordered me.

Right, if I couldn't ask him, I could just tail him; and my mind agreed to that.

Since, it's not that I couldn't ask him; it's that I didn't want to ask him. And my mind echoed '_right. right._'

But I didn't know his whereabouts. '_dang_'

Then I'd wait, he'd be coming back to the apartment; I could tail him tomorrow. 'Right-o. _That's a plan_'; and I got a thumb-up in my head.

I chuckled to myself.

* * *

The train passed with the sounds of the train-crossing siren made an almost melancholic music as the beat of the rails making up the tempo. The shadows of the linked cars consistently casted down on me, and the yellow evening light blinded my eyes as it alternately assaulted them between shadows. When the train cleared from my sight, I was frozen when finding Heero standing on the other side of the crossing; there was a glint in his eyes (even from such distance I could see it) marking that he was surprised too finding me on the other side, but he didn't show it on his face.

He walked towards me when the crossing bars lifted; I just stared at him, since my feet wouldn't budge; I could only file his figure into my mind-note. He looked rather disheartened or tired; and avoiding my eyes. He didn't say anything when he passed me; I sighed and decided to move on with my walk to the apartment, but my feet decided to follow him instead.

"Vegetables."

I heard a voice said while my eyes glued to his back; and just realized after several seconds that it was Heero's in his usual curt tone when he's upset.

"...we're out of vegetables, already?" I just made a reaction in reflex at the thought that Heero TALKED to me again.

"Quatre loves healthy foods."

"...right..." I agreed half caring to the fact.

"...I thought it was you."

I lifted my brows, not expecting that. "Me? Healthy foods?"

"...falling from the hotel window."

And my feet stopped moving.

"...I only heard parts of the description of the subject through my radio, and my mind just kept playing that it was you falling from an 8-storeys window despite the part of the report saying that it was a boy." And somehow he could make a curt tone devoid of emotion, too. He must have recalled the event when I rescued him from OZ at _that_ time when I gave him the only parachute, and a little part of him was still questioning my _sanity_.

"When I got to Sally's place I was so relieved that it was Soleil instead of you that I just had to be angry at you to make it felt real."

"And even though it was Wu Fei or Trowa or Quatre instead of you, I'd still feel relieved to the point that I'd hate myself for having such feelings."

I gaped for some time, staring at his slow-paced walk carrying his figure further from me; and I clamped my jaw so hard that it hurt; "...sorry... Heero..."

"You said it yourself that an apology couldn't fix everything; yet you just keep messing around and do reckless things-"

"It's NOT like I do such things on purpose, alright? Some things just turned out to be worse than you'd expected, and that's what life is, right?" I snapped. So he's blaming me for getting myself involved with such a case with the mobs too, hu?

He turned his body and glared at me; his usual 'omae o korosu'-glare, only that his eyes were a bit watery. I clamped my mouth shut at the expression he's making and he fast turned his body again, and took a run for the minimarket.

He's running away from me.

I made him feel like he should run away from me.

"Damn it!" My leg could move as I boiled up my anger; or was it my knee buckled?

"It's not as if I purposely messing things up to gain attention, alright?" I yelled, but his body already disappeared into the store.

I tsk-ed, and kicked the road grits, and almost lost my footing.

I tried to calm down after quite a long pause, but only felt dejected even more; so he thought he was the only one angry at me? I too even angrier at myself, a voice hissed in my head and I cared less whose voice that was. So I turned around and headed to the apartment without waiting for him.

I didn't know if he was expecting me to wait for him.

He's making me losing my footing...

* * *

I was amazed finding Trowa on my bed, taking care of the still blissfully 'sleeping' Soleil and his tired brother sleeping at the boy's side. I was beyond shock hearing that mini-Heero's scream when he found his brother hurt and unconscious; such intense scream that penetrated my memory-walls and released the demon I caged in my heart for so long. Well, maybe not that long.

Trowa turned his face at me and smiled, his eyes shone with affection; seemed like he knew what was released inside me. He too, of course, remembered such scream I let out through the Gundam com-link when we witnessed Heero self-destructed with his Wing. A part of me still held a grudge at Heero for doing that; when I witnessed En's heartbreaking scream and the face Heero was making at the time, I thought he'd deserved it, witnessing what I felt that day when he'd decided that he could just throw away his life without any care for anyone else who cared for him.

But most part of me regretted it...

I didn't want him to be subjected to hurtful things...ever! I wanted him to be happy, since I was sure he'd had very little of that feelings and occasions in his life.

"Don't you want to come in to your own bedroom?" Trowa asked silently.

I stared him unmoving from the doorway.

He nodded understandingly, and took his laptop to the living room.

"Did you get the lists I sent to Wu Fei?"

"...yeah..." I took off my jacket and hung it on the hanger I put on the spot where my lovely totem should have been. I sighed, my cute Heero-turtle was no more...!

Trowa snickered when I joined him on the long sofa; he knew what ran in my mind every time I hung something on the hanger. I frowned at him.

"I'll check on them later..." I said, throwing my boots to the corner of the TV cabinet and the wall. "I got something I should do tomorrow..." I informed him before he asked.

Trowa only stared at my boots on the floor.

"Heero talked to you again?"

"...and?" I challenged him with enough acid in my voice.

"You could relief him a little...?" Trowa's tone was comforting enough in its flatness.

I sighed again, deeper; and slumped on the long sofa massaging my temples. "Is he that worried...?" I almost whined.

"More than worried, he's hurt, I think..."

I peered at Trowa from between my fingers. "...because I managed to put my life in danger behind his back?" I tried to put enough acid in my tone, by it sounded more like mewling in the end.

"...because he's helpless?" Trowa tried.

I snorted a snicker. "Right! Mr. Perfect always had to be in control in everything...!" I leered; and clamped my mouth right after I finished that line. I didn't mean it that much...

"He just felt that your well-being is part of his responsibility...?" Trowa smiled to his laptop screen.

"I don't need a guardian...!" I objected; and swallowed hard when I realized that my eyes were watery.

"I just don't get him, Trowa..." I whined, crossing my arms above my face to cover the expression of helplessness I made. "If I tried reaching out to him, he'd dodge my hands; if I pushed myself despite my feelings, he'd flee. If I just let my 'door' open so he could come in every time he felt like it, he just... find something else to be occupied with. But if I distance myself, he'd pull me back as if he wouldn't allow me to move forward without him..."

"Perhaps you should ask him what he wants?" Trowa's answer was fast enough as if he'd known what I'd complain to him and what I didn't do.

"I did!" I lied.

"Did he answer?" Trowa seemed to play along with my line.

I pulled my hands behind my head and stared at the ceiling. "...we fought!" I admitted.

"Did you know why?" Trowa asked while clicking on his keyboard. I snapped my head to him, I just said it that I didn't get Heero, didn't I?

"Well...! He seemed like-"

"About you...!" Trowa cut my exasperated complaint.

I shut up for about 30 seconds.

"I..." My mind filled with many things that I couldn't put into words one by one, and all I could come up with was "...I miss him..."

Trowa smiled again. "Ever said that to him?"

...without anything else following those words or stating the boundary? If... he said 'I'm here, Duo', then it should be alright; or a line like 'I miss you, too'... that should be good, right?

But my heart was afraid if he'd said something like 'where have you been?'; because I wouldn't know the answer to that, or may be my mind just didn't want to admit it that I've been running away from him...

I've been running away from him.

He felt it... that's why he'd distanced himself from me, giving me the much needed room that I'd feel safe enough in, so that I wouldn't flee somewhere his eyes couldn't see when I thought I felt suffocated.

"I don't know why..." I admitted silently. Trowa realized the different atmosphere around me and he stopped typing, and just stared at me.

"I don't want him to disappear, Trowa..."

Trowa silenced for a moment, reading me. "You feel like he'd disappear from you?"

I expected he would go on about that self-destruct incident, but seemed like Trowa could see it better; I praised him for that.

"...he's putting himself on lines... Ones he could just severe when he wanted to leave..." I stared on the turned off TV screen, a silhouette of myself was facing me, 'staring' pass through me and my walls. "...and I didn't know where he'd grounded those lines to so I could keep them from being severed..."

"I'm really..." I covered my eyes again with my arms.

"I never felt like he's here with me, Trowa..."

Trowa was silenced for a much longer time, I glanced at him from between my arms and saw the uncertainty on his face. I thought I shouldn't burden anyone with our problem, so I pretended that I'd fell asleep.

I heard a rustling noise and the sofa creaked softly, I felt his movement and his hand petted my head gently. I almost broke my pretence (since I knew he knew I wasn't really sleeping), but his words shattered me to the core.

"Quatre told me that Heero said he feared you so much he thought you'd kill him..." Trowa whispered on my ear, but it felt like he was yelling instead.

Then the front door opened.

I was so surprised by Trowa's words that I backed from him with widened eyes, and stared at anything except him... say like, that opened door... revealing Heero who seemed surprise too with our arrangements. And my flushed face, and I just realized that Trowa was leaning his body sheltering me with a hand looking affectionate enough on my head (well, since I pulled from him hastily, his hand was now on my cheek)... and you knew what it looked like. (my mind just rolled on my brain cavity laughing at the uncanny-timing of us)

Hero stopped for about 3 seconds, and proceeded to the kitchen with his grocery bags still held safely in his hands. If it were me I'd surely had dropped them (and my mind just boo-ed me saying something like '...oh, you just have to dramatize everything!')

I was struck speechless by the things happened (or the _nothing_ happened actually) and tried to panic when I caught a glint in Trowa's eyes as if he was curious of our reaction (or lack of it) and enjoying the misunderstanding (or should-be misunderstanding, I didn't know if Heero would thought what it had looked like). I gave my other-mind a mind-slap, and my mind was back on track (I hoped...)

I pushed Trowa and turned my body so fast that I almost fell from the sofa and-, ignoring his chuckles, I hurried to the kitchen.

"Need some help with the cooking...?" my tone was too hopeful and I slapped myself in my head.

Heero didn't look at me and just proceeding putting the groceries into the cabinet and fridge.

"Did you look into the lists?" he asked curtly without looking at me.

I paused shortly, I thought he didn't want to talk about work in the _kitchen_; he'd said that more than once. Or did he just want to dismiss any personal matters between us?

"Yes. What do you want to cook?" I openly ignored his subject.

As expected, Heero looked at me like I had sprouted another head; I blinked and plastered identical sweet grins on both of them. There was a flash of fright-glint in his eyes before he turned his face away, it felt like a slap on my face right after Trowa's words hit me. I thought he was just still angry at me.

I grabbed his left arm, trying to say something like a silly excuse or a dismissal joke; but he jumped and spun around pulling himself from my reach, as if he got electric charged when our skins touched, and my words died before I even remembered what they were about.

Yes, there was a manic-fright in his eyes as he glared at me for surprising him; as if he was afraid that anything he wanted to keep secret could be seen in his eyes. And I could see his trigger fingers contracted unconsciously at his sides. And for a moment he looked like a complete stranger in my eyes, and he'd seen it too though I cursed myself for letting him saw it.

He looked really hurt for a millisecond, before that dismissal covered it and he spun again and busied himself chopping the vegetables on the counter.

And I stood there, shocked at my own mind as it -how could it?- saw Heero as a perfect stranger...?

The beads curtains jingled, and a sincerely surprised Quatre came in with a light smile on his face. "Oh, you're home. I bought some vegetables on my way here too..." he showed me his grocery bag. He seemed to have felt the dark mood around us and apologized himself, for whatever it was.

Heero turned around slowly, and I half expecting him to glare at Quatre too; but Heero stared at him with his usual stoic stare and said, "I could use a hand with the carrots...!"

Quatre's brows shot up and he glanced awkwardly in turns at me and at him; Heero just ignored me being there, so I took my leave; patting the baffled Quatre on the shoulder as a greeting when I passed him. The poor blonde might've regretted being there between our fighting-routine already.

"What were you two talking about...?" I heard him asked with a smile carried in his polite voice.

"Nothing...!" Heero answered distantly, and I knew when I should just shut my ears off from him.

* * *

Wu Fei came to the apartment almost at midnight with a bump on his forehead and a split on his lower lip and a bruise on his left cheek. Quatre was instantly at his side with the first aid kit, and a mother-hen's frown.

"Don't tell me you were caught in a fight...!" Quatre said seriously as he saw Wu Fei's jacket and pants were dirty.

"...I was rolling on the ground..." Wu Fei said rolling his eyes.

Quatre gave him _the stare_ while cleaning the bump on his forehead, and Wu Fei cave in after several seconds.

"Some punks thought it was funny to hit random people with their truck...!" he said looking at Quatre's eyes; and Quatre looked satisfied enough with that answer after taking his time searching Wu Fei's eyes.

"Where?" Quatre asked while applying some alcohol to Wu Fei's busted lip.

"Ow..Chay-natouwn... -I can do it myself!" he pulled the dripping cotton bud from Quatre's hand and pulled his abused lip away from Quatre's -gentle- hand. He glanced at the room generically and stopped at me, and hissed as he walked pass me on the study doorway to the sink at the dining area to see his wounds on the mirror.

"Just some punks?" Quatre asked again.

"I think they were drunk... They threw some beer cans at me; you can smell it on my jacket...!" Wu Fei answered to his frowning reflection in the mirror.

"What lead were you chasing in Chinatown?" Trowa asked, and I could hear his interrogation-mode tone, even so discreet.

"Indian curry...!" Wu Fei snorted. "You know; that booth that I liked...?" and he ended hissing as he put the cotton bud on his lip.

I blinked; so he followed my lead about that Arab man in Chinatown, and whatever he found he thought it was risky enough that he should keep it a secret from the others.

"Tsk. I need a shower...!" Wu Fei said criticizing his own appearance. "Aside from my face and my clothes, I'm fine, Quatre. Thanks..." he said fast and fled to the bathroom at the back.

We all stared him disappeared behind the beads curtains, and I glanced at Quatre and Trowa still staring at the swaying beads. I glanced at the bedroom door and Heero didn't come out; 'guessed he was still glued to the boys and ignoring me. I stifled a sigh, and took my things in my hands from my table.

"I'm going to the loft; the study is yours, Wu...!" I said to the bathroom direction and pulled the folded ladder from the ceiling at the corner of the study; since we gave Quatre and Trowa the living room, and I was still avoiding our bed room (including my refuge-closet in there).

"...'Kay...!" I heard him answered between the sounds of the shower.

After about 15 minutes later I heard Wu Fei entered the study, I was lying on my makeshift bed in the loft counting how many lines in the spider web on the ceiling just above my face when I heard he lowered the folded ladder. I crawled to the panel and found his _really_ serious face with a dark-shade in his eyes.

"What is it, Wu?" I was almost hoping he'd say he found nothing.

Without a word he handed me a crumpled little piece of paper, on it only scribbled a shop's name, level numbers and a phone number.

"Chinatown..." he said and turned his face around intending to descent the ladder.

"Wait, Wu..."

He stopped halfway and looked indecisive for a moment, then turned to me again with almost a pained expression.

"Duo..." he began, and my mind said 'this couldn't be good'; "...frankly, it's not my business, though I really concerned about you too..."

'Me _too_'?

"But we're grown-ups now... -though not that much...!" he grimaced; "I just want to say that... I want to believe you can see through reasons-?" he left it hanging there.

I frowned, "Is this about the thing I asked you in the phone today?"

He paused, took a deep breath. "...just promise me you won't kill anyone?"

Definitely fishy! "It depends-..." I tried to make excuses.

"Including you!" Wu Fei finished. From his stare I thought he wouldn't take no for answer, and so ignoring my other-mind started ranting about dark things, I nodded. He searched my face for a moment and nodded to himself.

"Thanks, Wu...!" I threw before closing the panel.

"...Right. Prepare to get beaten on the way..." I heard him mumbled something like that through the wood, but my mind already focused on the crumpled paper in my hand.

_Well, I certainly wouldn't kill anyone over this thing; but about what I find there_... -my mind started to plot; and I didn't mind about the outcome formed in my head.

* * *

"...you sure you're alright?"

I heard Heero's voice through the study door; Wu Fei had already put his sleeping bag into the cabinet and now he's in the living room commenting about the news.

I opened the door and greeted by Trowa who was arranging the table for breakfast. I frowned.

"Quatre left early in the morning to the factory; some materials needed to be checked immediately." he supplied before I asked.

I grimaced; "Not about that, really, Trowa...". I just felt something wrong with them being the guests and me being the host had them do most of the chores. Quatre did say something like 'I could fill in for you', but still...

"If there's something wrong, I won't-..." I heard Heero's voice again, filled with enough worry for his level.

"I am fine, Tou-san. Please don't mind me and go to work like usual. I really want to say that we are in a hurry, but Nii-san didn't provide any better link to follow through, so I will stay by his side and inform you when he wakes."

I glanced at the bedroom door and saw Heero looking pale-worried and his miniature looking almost upset being treated like a kid. Right...!

"But you were out like a dead log last night; I almost thought you got into coma too...!" Heero said disapprovingly.

"Nii-san is only sleeping, not in a coma, Tou-san...!" his miniature objected.

_...as if you too weren't like a dead log yourself at night!_ My other-mind retorted at Heero.

"...and I was descending deeper than sleep, but it was deliberate..." his miniature fast reasoned Heero before he objected. "I was searching for Nii-san's loose-end..."

Heero paused for a moment, seemingly mulling at the information.

"So, did you find it?"

His miniature had a caught expression at Heero's silent question, his cheeks flushed and he averted his eyes from Heero's.

"No..." his frown was a dissatisfactory one, almost looking cute and made me want to give him a bear hug saying heart-lifting words, if only he were Heero. "I... never really tried to phase-in before. I will try harder today..."

"Are you sure you have to force him to wake up?"

Heero said the question that was floating in my head.

His miniature blinked and looked up at Heero's eyes again. "Don't you... want us to help you?" he asked slowly.

"We can manage...!" Heero ruffled his miniature's hair; and I felt a flare of jealousy in my chest. "When we find a dead end, we'll come to you. For now, just stay by his side?"

His miniature blinked again and nodded. But weren't Heero asking the obvious? Of course that boy would be at his brother's side, he didn't have to ask for that, right? I frowned deeper and turned around to the bathroom direction when he turned around to me, I didn't really want him to see me feeling jealous about them...he obviously knew that I was jealous from the start, right?

_Well, we can play cat and mouse all we want in the house, but today you won't escape me, Heero...!_ My mind vowed, and I shivered as my nerves woke up at the anticipation.

* * *

Heero left the apartment at his usual time of departure, Wu Fei said he's going to look into some facilities himself, and Trowa was called to his office-branch out of town for something about their Moon-project, saying he might also search about anything linked to the Moon while he's at it.

I didn't want to stalk Heero since he'd definitely realize my doing... So I round my route to Chinatown to circle some labs first, which to my dismay, it resulted in nothing linked to our 'prevent the world's end from happening'-mission. All I found was that scientists were likely to be secretive about their works; called it paranoia or clever, but somehow they rubbed me the wrong way; so I let Wu Fei or Trowa to deal with them. I said to myself, 'tell me to search for anything to blackmail them, and I'll gladly work on it', but it didn't fit in the mission parameter.

...one thing at a time... A voice in my head whispered; so I checked about the paper Wu Fei gave me last night. The phone number was not listed, it's a few numbers short to be an active phone number, it must be a code, then.

I frowned.

...let's just started from the store... The voice in my head said, so I took my leave to Chinatown. It was past midday when I got there.

Chinatown being Chinatown seemed too busy and cramped for my taste; it's a place where you could easily lose yourself at. Some low-level Triads members loitering on some corners or eateries' entrance; I tried to act innocent but their eyes kept finding me... It made me wonder if I smelled like a cop. I ignored them, and pretending I didn't notice several groups of people tailing me since I entered the Chinatown's gate. Being tailed by men was usual, but children and elderly too?

I cursed in my mind; seemed like Wu Fei should have told me about whatever movement occurred in the place. Then I cursed at myself; Wu Fei got the info on that small paper through some beatings, I should've realized it sooner.

Oh, that's the Indian curry booth that he liked. The servant girl, who was the daughter of the owner, smiled nicely at me from across the narrow street.

"Are you lost, Mister...?" a boy around the size of the miniature-Heero asked me from behind just as I stepped my foot on the street to cross. I was waiting for anyone to prevent me from doing anything.

"This place?" I showed him the paper folded to show only the store name.

"2 dollars...!"

"Okay..." I agreed, and waited for him to move.

"Now?" I asked when he didn't budge after several breath spans.

"2 now, 2 then...!" he grinned showing his incomplete front teeth.

"That'd be 4..." I argued.

"No. That's 2!" he said confidently.

Alright, I did that too when I was in L2, so I followed his conditions. The boy took me through a very crowded market and into some small alleys, all the while ranting about anything and asked questions about me; I did that too back then, it's to dissociate the person while leading them lost somewhere. I let him led me to the parts of poorer and shadier area.

I knew when he insisted his payment was '2' that he'd leave me alone somewhere in the way.

Some eyes in the dirty housing still followed me. I was ready for anyone to jump me anytime, but in contrary, the people who were tailing me stopped one by one. I looked around while following the boy, and found no marking everywhere. No house numbers, no alley names, no graffiti or any other evident of delinquent's markings. It was simply a poor area in the middle of nowhere; it looked deserted the more I moved on.

When I thought it was as if the sun's ray didn't reach through the overlaid roofs, the boy disappeared in some T-shaped junction. I looked at the either ways and just realized in front of me stood a very tall building... well, the back of it. The wall was a discolored black due to old age, and I found no entrance or windows at lower levels. While surveying the length of the back alley, I contemplated whether the boy had had me, but at the corner of its wall and another building, I found an ancient phone secured in some niche.

I stared at it almost for a full minute.

I decided to try and picked the receiver... no dial tone. I hung it up; but then decided to just try the number Wu Fei gave me. Wasn't it missing a few numbers to be a present phone number?

When was the last time I dial a phone with this circular dialing-plate kind? I chuckled, it's the first time, I guessed.

I waited, nothing dinged or bleeped. Well, the ancient phone was dead, anyway. I arched my shoulder and hung up again. I turned around and froze when the wall of a smaller building across the phone slid up, revealing the floors inside it which slid to the sides showing a set of staircase to underground. I blinked and checked the paper again; the level part was written as 'level-9'.

"...so it was 'minus', I thought it was just a dash...!" I grimaced. I looked around, finding no one; then entered the underground stairs. The sliding floors slid close again after me.

I frowned at the many censors I could distinguish in the walls. The place was too high technologically equipped despite its appearance. Good thing I came prepared.

After passing through some more gates and dialing the same phone number on some more ancient phones, I counted the floor level where I'd descended to and it was still level-3. I already lost my sense of humor when I passed the gate to the level-2 back there; what's all this with the laser identification system letting me pass while I was nowhere qualified to enter? Dang, I preferred to enter a Triads' lair compared to this underground fish-tomb. Ha! If I ever found one or all of the old-scientists at the end of the track, I'd be sure to shoot them; though I was sure they'd be all prepared to welcome me if it were really them...

The gate of level-4 swished opened, and I bit my tongue instead of letting my jaw dropped; in front of the opened path laid a corridor, bits of metals and tangled wirings dangled everywhere; and the musty odor and some other smells assaulted my nose and I coughed. The light bulbs along the walls were dim and sometimes flickered.

I'd wish I smelled a dead fish, and could say I smelled something fishy; but seeing the situation, I thought I'd find some mummified-fish instead. And my head complained I wasn't being funny. I sighed and stepped pass the gateway.

I could hear some metal clangs travelling the metal pipes attached to the walls, some dripping sound of water somewhere. The flickering light bulbs let out zapping noise, and the sound of my footsteps echoed in the closed narrow space. The design of the building, or rather buildings, seemed out of plan and disfigured in some places. It gave me a feeling like entering a more smart-looking mine tunnel; smart, not safe.

Descending another staircase with a plate number '4' at some turn, I was surprised finding a spacious field-like space but still seemed cramped with stacks of bits and what-else at the sides and corners. Some men were sitting on the floor playing cards and Mahjong, they didn't even spare a glance at me; some older men were sitting on some crates stacked along the sides of the far corridor, and they only followed me with their clouded eyes. There were voices of women shouting and some children sounding playful echoed from somewhere I couldn't see.

There were people living here. My mind found that bit of info quite baffling. So the place wasn't a secret lab-like place, after all; and the more I descended down the more I felt like entering a very large and jumbled salvage of a city. It almost felt like the slumps of L2.

I mulled at the thought. What's with it being in Chinatown and all; wasn't it like Kowloon city...?

Just as I finished that thought, I found myself a -late- welcome party lining along the corridor at the entrance of level-6. My mind supplied, wasn't it the number that almost similarly pronounced with 'die' was 4? But then again, it might just mean something like 'the dead started living from level-4'.

...'everybody is a shadow'; Saline's words suddenly came to my mind.

_So, whose shadows are all of you?_ My other-mind sneered as my body readied for some fight.

* * *

"How far do you think he will proceed?" the rocking chair let out a smooth creak every time it moved forward and backward slowly.

"Heheh. Wanna bet?" a gleeful voice asked in return.

"Hmph. You just bought yourself a lot of candy, hu?" the rocking chair didn't lose its tempo.

"I'll bet some for that..!" the small finger pointed at the long armament bit between the lips of the rocking chair's occupant.

Those lips smiled amusedly. "You wouldn't find this thing interesting at all, human-boy...!"

"Tsk. Cheapskate!" the boy retorted.

"Hey...!" the rocking chair slightly lost its momentum.

* * *

I had enough firearms with me.

My head kept pointing that fact, but I tried to ignore it. I wouldn't want to badly injure or kill the inhabitants of such a place which I didn't know how or where to exit, right? I didn't think about where I was heading, and just ran to any possible opening I could find; while my mind pointing that those chasers were leading me lost in that web of passages. And quite true, I lost count of how many levels I'd passed since that level-6 gate.

I cursed, momentarily forgotten what a fractured bone felt like; but seeing their numbers, it's very likely they were playing with me instead really intending to put me down. And they could stop me anywhere if that's what they wanted to do.

Right; Wu Fei was a good martial artist... and I wondered whether he entered this place or not yesterday. I hid myself in some recess while some men running along the crossing corridor upfront, and my hand reflexively rubbed the gun I had under my jacket. I tsk-ed when I realized myself. No, no firearm! I told myself, and took the way where the chasers came from.

Another left turn, another right turn; just find another staircase, my mind echoed.

Another turn, I stopped and moved backward. There was a number plate at the side of the wall I just passed, its dirty beyond recognition, I took off my shoe and used the sole to rub the grits off.

"...four?" I asked in confusion. That couldn't be right; I should've been in level-7 or between level-7 and -8 by now.

"...die!" a high pitched voice yelled behind me, and I jumped in surprise. A squeal of laughter followed by several heads of imps showed it was just some children and their pranks.

I sighed and lowered my hand from the gun holster. Another mind in my head complained that those children shouldn't be let running around when their adults were chasing some stranger in their vicinity, what if that stranger was dangerous? Another conscious mind pointed that if they deemed me to be dangerous enough, then I'd be dead by now.

I che-ed and continued my way, counting on my instinct.

I thought this was only about finding an Arab-man in Chinatown. My head complained at the reason for doing this, while my body complained that I had grown quite several inches more (tall and width) that I almost couldn't fit in some preferable places I used to use when I usually infiltrate some labs or bases or just slumps.

Another wave of chasers passed by on the corridor below, I waited until I couldn't hear the echo of their footsteps anymore, and jumped down from the recess with covering for the pipes on the ceiling. I had descended a couple more of staircases and the only number plates I could find still read '4'.

"Finding any number you like?" A voice made me jumped, and I swirled finding a youth around my age grinned at me. His left hand was holding a chopstick he used to tap the pipe with, the pair of the chopstick was stuck horizontally at the base of his ponytail by the nape.

I realized he was delivering message to his friends using the pipe.

"Wait. I didn't come here to fight...!" I tried to reason him out, seeing him to be alone.

"Right. So did everybody else...!" his grin got wider; and I knew a manic excitement when I saw one. And damn, he just had to emphasize the past tense at me.

I took another run, avoiding some group of chasers by slight chances. While running a windy corridor, I thought I heard a triumphant shout from behind me saying "We got him...!"

Before I could think about what it meant, my feet lost their footing. Good thing my hands still had enough reflex to hold on to the floor I fell from. I looked down and found a very deep wide hole into the ground, the pitch dark tunnel didn't tell me of its actual depth, it looked like a hole left by Wing Zero's beam canon or that gigantic canon of that huge ship Zechs had used to shoot the Earth with... _that... that something-like-a-fair-scale-named... Oh, right, Libra! But this is not fair, damn it!_

At the circling walls were openings to countless more corridors, but most of them were barred or closed by locked panels. There were ropes or just unused cables hanging like roots in jungles, and I thought to myself I was already too old to play Tarzan already; but the chasers coming closer left me with no choice. I pulled one cable near me and grimaced when my ribs shouted with pains and my mind complained why it was always the ribs-part they used for target-practice at. Hoping it turned out to be alright I swung to the far side, had a hard landing that knocked the air off my lungs and crawled up to the nearest opening a little above me. I heard the chasers behind me said some curses in Chinese and I ran forward, and at some turn I found some _girls_ smiling sweetly as if they were waiting.

"...you gotta be kidding me!" I complained under my breath and took the way back to the Tarzan's hole, thinking I could use a shortcut down if I could just find an opening in the wall down there...

"Oh, shoot!" I cursed when the place's inhabitants looked more advanced in this cable-Tarzan game than I did. _Or is it pirate-game...?_

I grabbed the nearest cable I could reach, without swinging I slid down opening my eyes wide hoping to find an open corridor.

"Down you go, Moussie...!" A girl's excited voice echoed in the closed air, and I looked up to see the -seemed to be- leader of the girls running down the wall with a pair of stick-like weapons held crossed behind her back, she used a cable around her waist to one shoulder as her life-cord... _then, perhaps it's Amazon-girl's game?_

"Damn! Mao, that mouse is ours...!" the youth who greeted me before shouted, he was sliding down his own cable at some distance from mine.

._..I'm 'mouse'? So I supposed you're 'rats', right...?_ My other-mind sneered. (but that girl was called 'cat')

A whoosh of air and a hard blow to my front, then my vision grayed for a moment but my mind realized I was swinging up to the far wall. I landed back first on a hard ground, and half panicked I tried to make my surrounding.

"Xiao Wu, you little snaaake...!" I heard the girl called Mao yelled furiously from down the hole; and a small hand grabbed my cuff and pulled me running again.

My vision was still swaying and I bumped on some walls when I turned, and my body was black and blue already.

"-wait...!" I complained; the small hands suddenly pushed me down behind some crates.

I coughed and moaned and realized a pair of large round eyes were staring me down intently.

It was a little girl around the age of 6 or 7... I momentarily forgot myself. Her eyes were almost shining in the dark shade.

-cough. "...'Wu'...?" I reflexively asked; nothing, really... it's just her name made me recall Wu Fei.

The little girl pointed at the red-marking on her left cheek, and her dirty tank-top showed that it went down her neck and shoulder to the back of her hand. The marking had many 'legs' and I realized it was the stitches scar of which turned to look like a...

"Centipede...?" my mouth moved by itself; and the girl narrowed her eyes in (likely) good mood and nodded several times. I almost dropped my jaw; ...what kind of place gave a little girl such scar?

And a girl called Centipede saved me... My other-mind cackled rolling around in my brain cavity.

I stared at the offered hand as Wu squatted before me. I frowned; no, she's not offering, she's demanding. Oh, right...!

"2 dollars would do?" I asked her.

Her small brows arched and she sniffed at my direction a couple of times, then she pointed at my chest pocket. I was almost afraid she was pointing at my gun holster, but she grabbed my jacket front and pulled the chewing gum from my pocket.

Candy...? Oh, of course, seemingly you wouldn't find any convenience store in this kind of neighborhood.

I searched my other pocket and offered her a chocolate bar. Her eyes widened and lit up at the sight; she took the chocolate bar with her mouth and pulled my hand to start running again without another delay.

"Hey, wait...! Do you know where I was going to go to?" I half complained; my mind was cursing at how fast those small feet could run, using hurdles as footings and leverage in an instant, it made me wonder if she could outrun Heero. She had let my hand go since I seemed to be hindering her momentum; well, I certainly wouldn't use the wall as stepping stones, right?

Behind us I could hear the commotion of the two groups chasing us down the narrow passages.

There was another staircase in front of us; Wu slid down along the hand railing using her left hand and feet. She landed on the floor down with a confident pose. I caught up with her moments later, out of breath and aching. In front the staircase, Wu was showing off her chocolate bar merrily at a couple of old men sitting on two crates; the corridor was divided into two ways to the sides. I was a little bewildered at Wu's antics looking like she didn't want to move further from the two old men nodding at her silent grins while the chasers had sounded very near. My mind pointed that it might just be that long distant a chocolate bar could get me to, so I randomly decided to just take the right corridor. But Wu grabbed my cuff again and pushed me through a panel behind the old men; on reflex I used my hands and feet to hang on to the walls. The empty space looked like a tunnel for a dumbwaiter but it seemed to be not in use anymore; well, I hoped there wouldn't be any compartment falling on my head from above. I tried to crawl down with my back as the damper ignoring my aching ribs, but Wu's hand pulled my collar and I looked up, realizing she had followed into the tunnel, and was pointing up.

"…bu…but I'm going to level-9…!" I whispered at her.

She nodded and kept pointing up. My mind took three seconds to digest the fact; there were only certain ways to get to level-9 and it should be able to be accessed from the higher level or somewhere unpredicted by outsiders; while most commoners would barge in to the lower levels to try to get there, but they would only lost more and more without finding the entrance or exit, and that was the trick of this place…! How could I be so dumb?

I followed the little girl crawling up; she climbed with an animal agility and had to wait for me catching up to her more than several times. Through the closed panel I could hear the commotion as the two groups of chasers had found out that Wu had guided me up again; I was afraid that they would chase me up through the tunnel too, but the old men, seemingly the guardian to that opening, didn't let them. I sighed in half relief as the place seemed to be having its own order as well.

Wu led me to crawl into a horizontal tunnel which seemed to be a leeway; my ribs were grateful that they didn't have to act as a damper anymore, but still aching, to the point I lose my breath more than once. The little girl seemed to be disagreed with my coughing, well me too, I said sorry to her and tried to hold them down and tried to distract my pains with other thoughts.

The place had live wiring and water, meant that there should be a power station and water supply supporting this godforsaken scrapes of a town. While my mind was pondering the possibility of the places they'd put the power station and water supply, my distracted hand decided to take a wrong ground and I yelped when the plank under my hand broke and my body fell from the hole.

And my brain stopped working for a moment.

I felt Xiao Wu's small hand poking my hand that was gripping the metal railing of the leeway I fell from; I stared up at her and climbed back up into the narrow tunnel.

"...You could have told me beforehand that we're crossing a space through this leeway and we had NOTHING sort of a ground bellow us...!" I hissed childishly at the child. Outside the closed leeway was a natural space of nothing, it looked like an underground river perhaps, but to my brain right now it was just a space of _nothing_. This whole underground city and landscape reminded me of some alien colony dwelling inside the earth in some sci-fi movie. I cursed under my breath.

My calmer side of brain pointed that before mankind decided to make colony in the outer space it'd be more fitting if they tried to make some colony in the earth; then, judging the technology they had in that place meant this colony was an old one, such a civilization that grew along as the civilization above ground developed their technology (and had some MS running rampage in wars too), and still kept their secrecy. As if, they'd been there even before the city above beginning to exist... _is that even possible?_

A shiver crawled up my spine; _isn't this a scary place to be trudged in to?_ A small voice in my mind warned me. Would I go this far for the sake of my jealous thoughts?

...I'd go even farther for Heero! I slapped that cowardice small voice of mind, and just realized that we had reached the end of the leeway.

Xiao Wu was leading me to climb up the ladder sticking from the round wall, it's kind of like a chimney; I looked up and almost wondering whether I could get out of the place in one piece... _if_ I could get out at all. This whole thing gave the expression of being lost a much _deeper_ meaning. I sighed and climbed up. I didn't count how many ladders I've climbed, too distracted by my physical pains and exhaustion, though my mind pointed I should've done that just in case I have to re-tread this path again later. No one knew when the necessity arrived, right?

But the length of the vertical journey we had passed bugged me, if my barely-counting measure was right, then we should be above ground right now.

I cleared my throat, "...Xiao Wu, right? How far are we going to climb up?" I tried, eventhough knowing the girl hadn't utter a single sound since the beginning. "Shouldn't we be above ground by now?"

The girl paused and looked down at me; she nodded once and continued climbing. I mulled at the answer and wondered about that tall black building above, I didn't see any chimney-like part on it... or more likely, I couldn't see it from the angle I was standing back then. But the thought that we're above ground somehow soothed my mind; at least I knew how to survive the world above ground (and beyond that), or how to find my escape from it.

While my mind fled somewhere in the portrait of blue sky and an endless ladder, Wu pulled a lever behind a hidden compartment and the wall beside her opened. She jumped out and stuck her head to cue me to follow her; I was about to say something grateful as I pulled myself out of the chimney into the dark windy(?) space but several spotlights beat me into it. Holding my breath and tried to shade my eyes with one hand I realized of the many people already waiting for me there.

"So late, Wu; the mouse held you back?" a voice chuckled.

I knew that voice, it's that Mao girl; and eventhough she was still sounded quite sinister but I could notice the seriousness in her voice, how would you call it... sounded proud of one's standing. Somehow I felt like I've definitely trudge into some beast's lair; it's not somebody's playground anymore, this place.

I was still on my knees on the ground, perhaps that's what made them hadn't jumped me; some glints of metal told me that they were fully armed now, and they meant to use it for what it's worth. I had no time to curse; the little girl didn't turn me in; that I knew, it's just that I was too slow and they won the race to this place. A thought suddenly came to my mind about the little girl with that daunting scar, what would happen to her after this?

My eyes had compromised with the blinding lights a little, and I could see her small figure standing a couple of meters in front of me, unmoving, as if stilling herself in front of a stampede. There was static in my ears, and I knew a bar of chocolate didn't worth the risk...if ever the risk was another scar like what she already had. My hands turned cold...and I pulled out my guns.

"GUNS!" I barely heard an alarmed shout, several swishing breezes passed my ears and head; I widened my eyes when my pounding heartbeats cleared the static.

The crowd held their breaths, I held mine... They'd stopped their attacking motion when they realized I was giving up my guns as I crouched to my front; a low twang still sounded behind me pulled my eyes back, slowly.

A couple of knives, a weird-curved hatchet, a thin flexible sword (the one made that twanging sound) were stuck on the wall right where my head should've been, if only I didn't crouch forward those things would have been embedded on my skull. I cursed gratefully at my timing and twist of luck.

A slow clapping sound ended the weird pause, and the crowd made way making low murmuring voices. I could hear some of them whispered "Ren Lei..." with voice tinted with fear or deep respect.

"What you got?" I've heard that childish weird accented tone before.

Wu pulled out the chocolate bar from her dirty clothes and held it out happily with both hands.

"Oh, chocolate...! Want to trade some?" a boy moved forward and his grin showed a missing front tooth, he chuckled as he glanced at me.

_Tha...that two now-two then boy...!_ I almost dropped my jaw, but my spitefulness (if I had it before) had been flushed with the sheer relieve of not having my skull a Halloween-costume worth looking, so to speak, so I didn't stare him back with accusing eyes (though my mind sure sounded with enough pressure about it).

He stared at me then, assessing my state; his jet black eyes stopped at the guns I offered with both hands on the ground, his eyes glanced at the weapons stuck on the wall behind me. Letting out a satisfied laughed, he said out loud; "I win, give me _**that**_...!" as he turned and pointed at the armament in that Ren Lei person's mouth.

I stared at the armament, as if following the boy's finger, my eyes focusing at the thing and shifted to the face, pale and looked mannequin-ly with white long hair, and my eyes stared back at that thing.

'...are you into cosplay or something?' my mind tried to calm itself down with the diverting question, while my left brain pointed out that the thing in that person's mouth was indeed a thermometer, I ignored my other part of mind asking 'what's so cool about biting thermometer? Shouldn't a pipe or cigar looked more daunting?'; but then again, a cigar between that exotic lips would look sinfully inappropriate, my other mind chided; while a thought about pipe brought back the image of Saline. Right...!

Focus.

I tried a deep breath, silencing my minds; and stared at that Ren Lei's eyes with candor, it's not like I thought my actions there worth any aggression in return.

"Hey... Ren, ...that!" the boy said wriggling his still pointing index finger to the thermometer. I could somehow recognize the boy's standing was higher than the others who had been chasing me in regards with that Ren Lei person. What threw me off was that I couldn't recognize whether that Ren Lei was a male or female; if ever, I felt like being stared down by a pretty-looking MS the size of a human instead.

That thought creeped me out.

"So, what business do you have here, Duo Maxwell?" Ren Lei's voice was pretty much like a male teenager; my eyes couldn't help flicked at his torso. Oh, well... he's flat-chested, alright.

Ren Lei snickered at my action, seemed like he got that a lot; I tried covering my self-consciousness by pointing out that he knew me by name.

"...you knew me by name...!"

"In the war..." Ren Lei arched his right shoulder, his hands were put together inside his long sleeves, and that somehow made him had to cock his head to the right in order to accented his gesture; "...after the war..."; my mind had a flash of an image of a geisha sliding her kimono collar off her shoulder; "...who wouldn't?"; and I had a hard time focusing my head to the situation at hand.

I cursed in my head. I knew this feeling of being analyzed and manipulated, like being hypnotized slowly. _This place is not right, I have to get out fast_; my mind ordered.

"Well, I didn't come here to bother anyone; that I can assure you...!" I tried sounding confident, wondering if I failed.

"So, your purpose of coming here, would be...?" Ren Lei's tone was neither condescending nor dominating, but I still got that feeling, like being stared down at beam-cannon's point by Heero in Wing.

"I'm just looking for answers...-" at the skepticism in Ren Lei's eyes, I continued half-forced; "...about a friend of mine." These people wouldn't give away their peers, I knew. So I hope the last part did it...

"A friend of yours here...?" Ren Lei asked monotonously; several hushed snickers heard from the surrounding people.

"A-..." my consciousness instantly scratched 'an Arab man' from my mind; if only Saline didn't give me away then it should be... "A...red-eyed Ridinghood...?" I diverted my eyes from his, realizing my voice lost itself into a mewling sound at the end; I wanted to slap myself for sounding that skeptical in such situation.

Exactly three seconds of heavy silence, and then it broke into a parade of hysterical laughter. I sighed at my thought, apparently Saline rather chose me to be a laughing stock than a dead stock. _Either is fine, already...!_ My mind complained at the non-ending horselaugh around me.

The only ones didn't affected were the boy pulling at Ren Lei's cloth still pointing at the thermometer and objecting for being ignored completely, Xiau Wu who was licking the chocolate bar's plastic cover, and an apathetic Ren Lei staring at me, of course.

"...in relation with...?" Ren Lei asked; his people hushed their laughter into giggles as he spoke.

To hell with this...! I threw my dignity away.

"Red... -smiley...?" I said smirking skeptically, leaving out 'evil-winking' in between those two words.

The subsiding giggles suddenly stopped, and I lifted my face again as I realized that, glancing at the people's faces and recognized the acknowledgement and surprise that soon changed into alertness. I blinked to myself; _so there's no Red-eyed Ridinghood, but there actually __**is**__ a Red Smiley?_

"Ren Lei...!" Mao hissed in alarm; she looked worried to some extent.

Ren Lei pulled out his left hand from the other sleeve, his long fingers were tipped with -probably- silver nail-accessories all pretty and pointy; making a pausing gesture to his people's alarm. "We do not interfere with Red Smiley's guests..."

"But, right now-!"

It's already decided when Ren Lei lowered his hand; my eyes followed as it disappeared into the joined long sleeves at his front.

"You took the job?" Ren Lei asked the boy half-climbing his body still pointing at the thermometer.

"Hah?" the boy paused instantly; seemingly recalling and eventually got down with a pout. He walked and stopped in front of me.

"This is the time for the 'two then'...?" he asked if I remembered the deal. Oh, right...

Walking pass me, he crooked a finger behind a shoulder, beckoning me to follow him. I gaped at the fast turn of event, unsure of what to do with the guns I surrendered but still in my hands on the ground.

"Hey, Yi, at the moment-..." a teenage boy tried.

"It's not my business. Besides, it's the last time...!" the boy answered uncaringly. "Aren't you coming, Mr. Maxwell?" he asked pass his shoulder as a metal opening to a lift opened after a device scanned his palm and he punched in a series of code.

I got up hastily, seeing that no one bothered about the fact that my guns were still in my possession; and hurriedly followed the boy. Ren Lei had an unreadable stare in his eyes; I caught that as I glanced back at him. The surrounding people seemingly ready to object at him once I got out of their sight; I put that fact to the side, it's not my business, better get out as soon as I could.

The lift moved up after the door closed. I realized the destination-floor must be keyed outside before anyone walk in as there was no button or anything alike in that lift.

"Uuuhhh..." I tried, "...you sure two dollars would be enough?" I didn't want it suddenly changed into two thousand dollars in order to get out safely from that place; I didn't have that much with me... right; I gave my mind a mental-slap.

The boy only stared at me as if I've stepped on his toe.

"Okay..." I cleared my throat; "Yi, right...? You'd be-...?" I tried conversationally.

The boy stared at me with an uneven cringe-like face and a stare.

It's not I was interrogating or not trusting him, but some curiosity needed answer even with the risks, right?

"...I'm the key-master of the place..." he answered with an uncaring tone.

I blinked and stared at him again; _doesn't that make you a big-shot here?_ my mind pointed out at his uncaringly carefree(?) attitude. It must've showed on my face clearly as he stared back with a bothered almost disgusted face.

"It's no big deal; just means I got a lot to look at in my hands...!" he almost winced, staring me with accusing eyes too.

I looked away from him; "That..." I mulled at the facts, "Didn't that make you vulnerable to dangerous situation?" I tried.

"You're asking 'How old are you', right?" he pulled his lips downright dignifiedly.

Well... yeah, that too... I tried a grin at him.

"Hmphh! I just have to take things into my hands before they developed into situations...!" he said lightly, like stating to someone that there was dirt on their shoulder.

I mulled at the information...and decided I prefer the cheeky boy (who had the place's big-shot 'guy' back-up) to classify me into the 'things' rather than into the 'situations'; so I didn't object. After that we both silenced, I tried to count the time passed as we traveled in that lift but I realized I didn't really intend to retrace the journey if I had an option, so I gave up with the assessment.

The boy snickered at me, knowing what ran in my mind.

Dignifiedly, I pretended I didn't care; it just made the boy chuckled more.

The lift pulled into a sudden stop with a loud clang, or perhaps boom; I didn't really curious about the mechanism and just wanted to get out from there. When the slide door opened, as I stepped out of the doorway, the boy said...

"I hope you find what you're looking for, Mr. Maxwell; you may take what you see but touch nothing... you wouldn't want your 'fingers' trace you up...!"

By then I realized he wouldn't come along with me after I get out of that lift; I instantly spun when the slide door slid closed, caught a glimpse of the boy's smirk... he had a strange glint in his eyes.

"Wait...!" I tried; but the black metal wall had closed and left nothing resembling doors or anything alike. I realized I haven't asked how to get out from that building; my little mind whispered about the 2 dollars I hadn't given the boy for the ride... 2 was probably what they used to call me... the '2 then' was probably myself, given to someone (presumably the Red Smiley) as an offering.

I hissed with slumped shoulders, this couldn't go any more complicated than it already was, right?

I hoped so. My little mind echoed something about karma, for being so selfishly wanting to blame anyone else but myself for my jealousy... which I ignored.

I sighed deeply, took a few deep breaths then turned around; the corridor was tapered to a single door at the far end, I looked up at the same tapered high walls that appeared to be the slanted roofs. I frowned at the weird design; it chilled me imagining that behind the walls at my either sides was nothing else beside the open air, remembering the underground leeway Xiao Wu had led me through.

Snorted at my own thoughts, I knew I had nowhere else to go besides moving forward.

Saline wouldn't lead me to harms, right?

Half-consciously I counted my steps along the narrow corridor; it was precisely 49 average steps before I stopped in front of the door. I considered knocking before I realized the wooden old door was opened a slit; thinking back about what the boy told me about my 'fingers' tracing me, I pulled a pair of rubber gloves from my pocket and put them on before pushing the door open with a finger...

The old door creaked on its rusty hinges; the contrast with the high-tech system of the lower place down there confused me. Or it just meant that this place was 'forgotten' or intentionally made to be like an abandoned part. It was totally dark inside, but I could tell the floor was made of wood, and already worn by age; I took out my small flashlight, frowning at the broken glass but relief I didn't lose it; looked around in the small lobby the size of a lift and found nothing, then proceeded to the door across and found what seemed to be a parlour...which was just consisted of a corridor with lining dirty windows at the walls. But I could see the sky and the bird nests on the windowsill outside.

I looked behind and realized it was a cul-de-sac corridor system, such a peculiar place to be a resident. Behind the next door I found a more open space in a round building; gaping at the domestic things and furniture I realized this was a tower, like those towers at the top of castles or palaces in fairytales. The living space and furniture could only be described as adequate, I wondered who might want to live in such a secluded place; must be a hermit... an image of the ol' famous wizard Merlin flashed in my mind, and I chuckled to myself. There was a pull-down staircase in the middle of the room and I climbed up, finding another room which looked more like a cramped salvage bird nest instead of a work room.

I pushed myself inside dodging hanging things and battling loose unused cables with spider webs everywhere from catching my braid and clothes. My flashlight fell from my grip and flickered off; I blindly searched for it on the dusty floor, stood up and thumped it to my palm a couple times to turn it on again. When it flickered back to life, I yelled in surprise at the man sitting on the wooden chair at my elbow.

His back was facing me, and he looked like he was asleep seeing his cocked head fallen to my side.

I reflexively stepped back and said "Excuse me, sir...!"

The fez on the man's head reminded me of someone; I frowned as I realized I didn't realized someone was there in the room with me, so I carefully stepped forward and stooped down... well I could say the man definitely had better days.

I blinked at the dried dead body; looking at the appearance, I'd say he died naturally of old age; perhaps a cardiac arrest or just fell asleep and never woke up. The downsiders must've known about him being dead, too; recalling that Mao girl objection and that Yi boy saying 'it's the last time'.

...the last visitor or something?

So, what did I come along way here for?

I sighed and looked closely at the dead man; his red fez looked worn and it had what seemed to be bullet holes at its sides given by the burnt marks around it, two through-and-through bullet holes...and the burnt-curves under the holes must be handmade to make smiley signs. Thus it was the 'red smiley'...

The man had a severe burnt scar almost halve his face that took his left eye. What caught my attention were the black round-glasses the man had still attached at his nose; something clicked in my mind...

...fez... round-glasses... a cocky grin...

"_...Master Duo...!"_ the voice echoed in my memory; _what was his name again...? Aouda...?_

I straightened up and massaged my temples, took a very deep breath, and took some more.

"No..."

"...can't be..."

This man looked beyond old...

"_But Papa and Quatre-sama ended the war…!" _

"…_since the ones having the war were the both of you…"_

The boys' words came unbidden and I took my conclusion with dread.

"...the future-Quatre sent you...?"

I took a couple steps back, a little overwhelmed by my own thought.

"Man..." I chuckled tremblingly, "...this is way beyond loyal, I'm telling you...!"

How did Saline know?

Wait... what about Heero?

That was only my own suspicion based on nothing but hunch, but...

I moved forward and started looking around the work-desk in front of him, old vials and chemistry bottles already covered in dust; judging by the looks of it they were the last ones in use by the man. I searched around and found nothing resembling liquid he was brewing; a small box was laid on his laps, it was just opened as it was free from dust. Whatever it was in that box, it's already taken by someone.

I let out a heavy sigh.

Perhaps I should search something more tangible than just proving my suspicion; with that thought I looked around the cramped room and realized the ceiling was flat. Searching for any lever or pull-down mechanism for any staircase or opening, I accidently found a slide door on the dirty wall, which was looked like a dumbwaiter door. Got into the crawling space and found an enclosed stone staircase with light coming down from the upper end.

I frowned again while ascending the circling staircase; if my logics were right then this staircase should be outside the tower and considering the long vertical journey I'd gone through to get here, I only prayed for some floor beneath this odd tower, preferably the not so long way down one. I really should talk to the architect of this building.

My eyes had used to the darkness so when I reached the end of the staircase I flinched at the sudden bright light as I looked up. Shielding my eyes with a hand I stared accusingly at the ceiling, the round wider room had none, actually; there was only a wrought iron cage made with intricate design of craftsmanship... although the cage had long seen its glory.

When I pulled my eyes down, my heart skipped a bit finding a wooden rocking-chair and a small round table in the center of the chamber; I hurriedly stepped up onto the floor recognizing the figure sitting there.

Brown hair...

Pale kind of tan skin...

The wind blew colder as the temperature dropped; a single raindrop fell on my cheek through the iron cage of the ceiling. I forced my voice out.

"...Heero...?" it only came out as a rasp.

My eyes searched in panic eventhough my mind blanked. My little mind whispered perhaps the future-Quatre sent a clone of Heero too to here; I wouldn't want my Heero siding with my (future) enemy, right...?

No; this should be someone else with the same hair color and the same traits with Heero...!

My eyes landed on a small strange-looking syringe on the table beside the rocking-chair. Several raindrops landed on the stone floor as if inviting me to move closer. I didn't remember how, but when my mind came to I was staring at Heero's face.

The raindrops came pouring down...

The rocking chair sometimes creaked when it swayed as the wind blew strong enough to push it.

His eyes were staring unblinking at the sky through the wrought iron cage...

I stared unblinking at his blissful face.

...he didn't even realize I was there. His breathing was slow and even as if he were sleeping.

My numb hand gripped the syringe, shook it a little, knowing it's empty beforehand.

Liquid...

Drug?

Medicine...

Drug...

No.

"_Quatre told me that Heero said he feared you so much he thought you'd kill him..."_ Trowa's whisper echoed repeatedly in my head.

"Heero...!" I called out louder; Heero sat there like a statue.

An alien smile I've never seen...

"Heero!"

The rain fell heavier and he didn't even blink his drooped eyes.

"...what are you looking at...?" my voice drowned in the sound of falling rain echoed in the stone chamber. The high wall gave out a sense of being imprisoned, separated from the world, ...from reality.

There was only sky above us... and we didn't have to mind the world.

As if suspended in eternity.

* * *

_You may take what you see but touch nothing..._

So I didn't touch him trying to wake him up. The rain had stopped; I was sitting at his right side, on a carving of an animal head made of stone attached to the wall, just beside the drain; staring at his blissful face and wondering what kind of drug he'd taken to make him looked so heavenly in peace. Wondering why he even had to take drugs at all...

Was he so unhappy?

I never realized that...

My tears of betrayal and guilt had been washed away by the rain; and I just sat there shivering when the wind came down strongly on my wet body.

I looked up trying to determine the time by the light of the sky, and countless glints welcomed my tired eyes. The wrought iron cage was fixed with countless small pieces of glass; and they shone as the water refracted the dim sunlight fell on them.

"_Don't you feel like you're in a baby cradle watching this…?" _Heero's question sunk my heart; that time when he was talking about the starry night sky and baby's room, Heero was probably remembering this...

...they're not even stars!

But perhaps Heero was now seeing his 'memory' from when he was a baby that he never had; that's why he looked so blissful.

_If it makes you happy... _a voice whispered in my mind but I didn't know whose it was.

* * *

About an hour later Heero moved.

The first thing he did was took the empty syringe and casted it into one of the six holes of the drainage at the bottom of the wall and the floor. I froze as I thought he saw me, but it seemed he was moving on autopilot.

I almost pulled him into my arms.

...but I didn't want him to see me here.

I followed him down, realizing he should be my guide out of the place; that's why the boy Yi didn't ask for his guide fee the second time.

My mind was flying somewhere; all I realized was I followed Heero through different passages from where I came from; my eyes were only focusing at his back... and when that sight was blocked I focused on his brown head... when I missed that sight too I was already on the streets of a busy market in the Chinatown I knew of.

The yellow light burnt my eyes.

I'd forgotten my physical pains; all I know was I felt like a broken vase... not my body but my heart. I should just go home and faced my daily routine, pretending not knowing anything.

* * *

Apparently I was moving on autopilot too... Quatre's voice was echoing in my ears; he sounded concerned with the condition I was when he found me walking on the street to my apartment. The funny thing was I didn't even remember when I got into his car, I just remembered him fussing over me by the stairs when he urged me to hurry up and get myself cleaned and had my injuries tended.

I remembered I chuckled and said he's not my mother hen so he shouldn't tire himself worrying about me.

I remembered him flung my left arm around his shoulders and dragged me up the stairs when my knees decided they could just betray me and gave up half the way up.

I remembered Quatre calling Trowa on his cell to snatch Sally on his way home _now_...

I remembered I emptied my stomach at the landing just before my apartment floor.

I remembered I laughed at the thought.

I remembered Quatre kicking the door as his knocks.

I remembered laughing some more at the fact.

...I remembered how worried the miniature-Heero's face when he opened the door for us.

I remembered him calling out to someone he thought was his father from inside my apartment.

I remembered Heero's face as he looked at me.

I remembered him recognizing me...

And tears welled up in my eyes.

...and everything went black.

* * *

_Saru's note:_

_this is by far the longest chapter of this fic; sorry for the inconvenience... you might have gone tired reading this as so saru tired of typing it.-wheeze- _


	12. list 12: whoever you be

**The future never lies 'gaku 18 sept, 11**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's…too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…some dark things coming ahead_

_flashbacks and presents interchanging... changing POV of characters_

**12. List # 12: whoever you be…**

I opened the door as I felt papa arrived in the vicinity; Quatre-sama made a loud commotion by the corridor. I was aware of Tou-san hurriedly, worriedly coming out from the kitchen wearing an apron with the kitchen knife still in one hand; he was just coming home shortly before with the groceries in hands; he stopped as Papa was in sight, though. A flash of warning in his wide eyes...

Tou-san was afraid of Papa; that much I could figure out by myself.

* * *

Quatre lowered Duo onto the couch. Our eyes met when Quatre was still dragging his body by the doorway; I saw his tears welled up in those almost unfocused eyes. He looked so hurt inside as he saw my face.

I knew why... my conscience screamed at me.

I stopped.

Quatre ordered En to get the first aid kit while he grabbed the towel and looked for a basin for the water to clean up Duo's wounds.

I... stared...

"Duo! Can you hear me?"

I heard Quatre called out in alert tapping Duo's left cheek with his right hand while his other hand dabbing at his scraped forehead with the wet towel.

I stared.

The water in the basin turned light red.

"Tou-san...?"

I heard En asked me in confusion as I just stood there unmoving, a couple of meters away from the couch; Quatre heard him too, for he barked at me with disapproval in his eyes.

"Heero! Call Sally, now!"

Duo moaned eventhough he was unconscious when Quatre's hand placed lightly on his left ribs. My eyes snapped to that part of him. A memory resurfaced uncalled... Duo smirked at me, bruised and battered; but not now. Duo was...

not now...

"...not now!" I heard my voice trembled and far away.

"What...?" Quatre snapped at me in alert and confusion; perhaps then he realized my eyes were staring blankly at that smirking Duo, slumped by the cold prison wall... waiting for me.

Duo was smirking at me... my gun in my hand, I could feel the barrel shook. Not now... not now...!

I could squeeze the trigger... just lightly and all is done... but not now!

Duo's not smirking now!

"Heero...?"

Stop smirking, Duo...

". . . . stop, Duo . . ."

A blow on my left cheek, my eyes stared at the wooden floor. "Heero, snap out of it! What are you doing...?"

Quatre was worried; he only had one head to worry with either one of us.

I knew that, Quatre.

...not now.

even _I_ knew that.

* * *

Heero took care most of Duo's wounds in the end; thank god it wasn't that alerting... he got a very bad bruise on his left ribs but nothing's fractured or broken. The rest were just scrapes and skin-deep cuts and minor bruises.

Though I wanted to shake the truth out of him for what had caused his injuries, or more about his shock as when I found him in; once he's regained his consciousness and faced Heero, they both just retreated to their safe wave-length. Both denying the knowledge of the matter and pretended it was just some ordinary happenstances as like what happened when we're still in the war days. For goodness' sakes, did they think I couldn't feel their struggles all this time, being in their living boundaries even just for days? I could strip them inside out just by touching their hearts and then I could confront them face to face if only I could be a little tactless.

Damn it.

There's something definitely wrong between those two; if only they'd just admit it...

Duo...? Before you put Heero's light out... or burn yourself out denying what was happening.

* * *

Heero gave me a lengthy lecture after that, could you belief it? He actually lectured me to stop being a suicidal while he was one all along.

Well, that boy Soleil had woken up now so we could focus on our investigation separately. Thank god for not seeing Heero's face most of the time; I didn't want him to confront me about my actions, or me to confront him about his doing...

If only, we could both just forget about those things...

Yes, just pretend to not notice; I didn't want him to know that I knew... whatever I thought I knew about him. Just forget! ...and smile; I could do that.

Yes.

I took out the keys from my pants pocket; I'd been out from my detective office for quite some time, being holed up by myself in my shabby shadow-office in fear of... I didn't know what I feared of, actually. The case with that crime-lord secretary's murder hasn't chased me in person, though I didn't expect it to chase me now; and I had my hands (head too) full with that bad-Ned guy's case leading us to nowhere and everywhere.

I sighed.

If the world was destined to end, as logics said that it should ends at one time, one way or another; did it really have to be stopped, I wondered. To crave for something better and what we don't have was our curse; because we sinned... because the first Man sinned and the Lord cursed him and his descendants to always crave more. Did we really have the right to stop apocalypse?

Virus.

Disease? Shouldn't that be the Black Horse of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? 'Evil', 'war', 'pestilence', and 'death', just like the Bible said, right? Wasn't that mean that no matter what we, humans, do to escape them, it's futile?

This world should come to an end sooner or later. Who're we to stop it?

My hand froze when I suddenly realized that there were hushed voices from inside my office. I didn't have a secretary, being a poor detective working small cases just to get by; my other mind cackled about having my wish granted just after I thought about it, as if I was asking for it.

I frowned in alert. Any hit man would be really dumb to blow their cover before their target showed up; so it couldn't be the _shadow_'s taking their action towards me. If it was anyone from my circle, they wouldn't be talking in hushed voice and breaking in behind my back, right?

So, I turned the door handle as soundless as I could; my desk was facing the door so I just thought to eavesdrop the perps first before deciding to barge in or flee.

"...stop it! What are you doing...?"

My eyes widened at that voice.

Heero? Why would he-...

"You need this; just admit it. How long have been like this?"

I was about to storm in hearing Heero's voice, but the other person's voice made my body froze in disbelief.

"Stop, Mercury...!"

Heero sounded like he was flustered, almost desperate.

"Why are you whispering? Are you afraid anyone will find out?"

Mercury's voice was soft and calm; I bet he said it with that ever-present 'annoying' smile on his face.

"D-... Duo will come here..."

Heero's voice trembled when he mentioned my name; so he didn't want me finding out he's been here?

. . . with Mercury?

I narrowed my eyes.

"Duo? Let him come in; do you really think he didn't know?" Mercury chuckled.

I widened my eyes again. Mercury said 'come in', he knew I was outside and listening.

"No! -Ah...!"

My body jerked hearing Heero's voice; either he was desperately flustered in pain, or he was desperately aroused.

"Stooop...!"

I could hear tears in his voice, Mercury was only chuckling in enjoyment. Something hot flared inside my chest, my throat hurt, and my ears started to ring; I couldn't breathe because the veins in my neck pumped the blood to my head in a rush that my head felt like it's going to explode. My mind told me to bang the door open and stop whatever happening in there, but it was as if another program working inside my head, controlling over my body and action; and I just pushed the door panel slowly, opening it just enough for me to peek inside.

"You're already like this; you really want me to stop?" (1)

"Kuso! Stop or I'll kill- ahh...!"

"Kill me? I'm really eager to see how you'd do it..."

Mercury purred and bent his head. My body felt like being under a freezing-spell at the sight... His black long coat generally covered his posture as he got his back facing my direction, but that pearl-blonde cloudy locks and that white cowboy hat were definitely him...

No, more than that...

I could see Heero's legs dangling from the desk. My desk. Mercury had his nether region between Heero's thighs, and Heero's hands were clawing at his back. As he bent his head I could see Heero's head rested on his chest, left arm encircled Heero's head holding the back of it; right arm probably encircled Heero's waist, pressing their bodies flat.

No... definitely; eventhough they might look like they're doing something like-...

Heero wouldn't...

I felt my gun under my jacket. No, I felt the weight of my guns in every hidden case I had them hidden... The closest one... I got a knife on spring in my right sleeve, if I could just bent my elbow right and let it flung to that figure in black coat as he so daringly presented his back to me...

"Why are you so afraid of Duo, anyway? Duo knows...!"

I could actually hear the wide smile Mercury's making. My mind stopped trying to move my body at that. I knew?

"Shut up...!" Heero writhed in his arms; twisting the black coat as he gripped them so tightly I thought he'd tear the thick fabric.

"Duo had known for a long time, and you're just in denial of that...!" Mercury brushed his lips at Heero's left ear. I could only see the top of Heero's head so I couldn't see his expression he had on his face; but he'd started to moan and whimper now.

"No, please. Don't let Duo-..."

"Why not? You don't need him, so just end it with Duo...!"

"No, Duo-...!"

"You need me more than you need Duo...!"

Heero sobbed, he really cried; Mercury's tone sounded so gentle and caring I almost forgot who I was... who- what he was...

"Pleassse... No-..."

Heero cried in pain. I was in pain, I thought...

"Just say it. I'll make you feel better; three times of what you got..."

"No-...ugh-" -wheeze, "...Duo-..."

Was Heero calling out to me or refusing me?

"Say you need me; go on..."

Heero struggled with his breath for some seconds, sobbing and whining; clawing and twisting the black coat all the while. I heard him tried to say something a couple times, I heard Mercury's smile widened too.

"Nghh- ... 'you'..." -sob; "...'need me'...!" Heero said acidly.

Mercury blew out his laughter in delight; pressing Heero's head with both arms to his chest even tighter. Heero jerked as if in surprise.

"-aah...!"

"Stubborn, aren't you?"

"-Uaaagh! ...ahhh!" Heero jolted as Mercury's body pressed forward. My body almost jolted to barge in for he's hurting my Heero too, but-

"Just say it and I'll give you relief!"

Heero whined.

"Just say 'I need you' if you don't want Duo to know about this...!"

I froze again; half of me wanted to hear Heero's refusal to his words, wanted to hear he rejected that _freak_ right on his face; half of me just wanted to stop believing... and stop hurting over my believes.

""-Duo...!"

Heero... say it...!

"Come on, say it!" Mercury whispered in his ear.

Say you need me, Heero...

"Say you need me...!" Mercury's voice had a winning tone already.

"...'I'..."

Heero...

"...'need'..."

Please deny him...

"...'you'..." Mercury dictated slowly.

Heero was trembling in his arms, still fighting with his breath and moaning and sobbing.

"...'Heero'..." Mercury called gently; somehow I knew then that I was losing.

"-Uugh..." -sob, "-nghhh..."

"Yes?"

-sob, "-. . . . .khh..."

"I-..."

My body shut down. No, I had to flee; I didn't want to hear Heero saying it.

"-need you..." Heero's voice was so small and desperate and sounded ashamed. And my mind shut down.

I heard Mercury smiled again; "Good boy, 'Heero'... You could relieve Duo from his pains too, you know?"

...he knew.

...I was there watching them.

...I was there.

* * *

My head felt light.

I opened my eyes in a dark space, my body was reclining on something soft; an unfamiliar hardness under my head.

A pair of gentle gleam shone near my head.

I turned my head and faced a familiar smile.

"How are you feeling?" his tone was gentle. The space was cramped. He didn't have his eye-covering on, I could almost see his eyes in the darkness.

"...Mercury." my voice was light and smooth, I almost didn't recognize it.

"Your body feels good?" He had his right hand draped casually on my stomach.

His face was so close with mine; I just realized that I had his left arm as a pillow.

The scent of the cramped space was familiar.

"This is Duo's..."

"Refuge room of a closet you've never gotten in before...!" Mercury's smile somewhat got wider.

I stared at him.

Sprang to sit, I realized why he sounded victorious; I never got into Duo's refuge room, and now I was with Mercury in there?

Duo's going to be pissed. No, that'd be understating it...

I crawled to the slide-door, peeking through the slit I opened; Soleil wasn't in our bed. No sign of anyone.

"He knows...!" Mercury said almost conversationally, propping himself with his left elbow. I snapped my eyes at him, frowning in dislike; dodging his hand as he brush over my left cheek. "You hate yourself...!"

He knew.

"So painfully doing it...!"

He knew...

"I don't hate you..." he smiled with genuine acceptance.

Don't...! I felt like crying in self-pity.

I slammed the slide-door open and hurriedly got out. My body felt good and light, and I lost the count of time.

"What time is it...?" I worded my thought just to forget about Mercury being there. My clothes were soaked with sweat.

Cold sweat.

I frowned at myself in disapproval.

Ignoring Mercury altogether, I took a shower and just forced myself to forget about what happened.

. . . . . . . . . everything's alright.

...why's the house empty?

* * *

En came not long after Papa stormed out. He looked like he was going to cry in anxiety.

The door was open between us.

The door Papa left widely open... as if saying that he didn't care where we're going and when...

"You can't change fate..." I felt my lips moved by themselves; "...you can change history, but you can't change fate."

Why was I smiling?

Somehow it felt like a relief; fearing that Papa would kill Toucchama someday... knowing that he would sooner or later... thinking so hard of what we could change to undo it from happening.

My equation was NOT balanced...!

"...Nii-san..." En's voice pleaded me.

"Why are you smiling...?" a tear slid down his white cheek.

Why, I wondered...

* * *

I got out of the bathroom feeling refreshed. It was late afternoon, I guessed, so I had to start making dinner; everyone should come home soon. I wondered since when did I feel that everyone belonged in our apartment; perhaps it was me wanting to belong with them.

I got the towel on my wet hair, half covering my sight; so I jumped in surprise when I saw a pair of legs in front of me. I snapped my head up, the towel fell to my shoulders...

"Duo...!" I sounded scared more than surprised.

"I supposed I should've said 'I'm home' first, but why are you sounding scared, Heero?"

Duo smiled, but his voice sounded cold; his eyes were dark. He's holding a gun.

I reflexively glanced at the slide door of his refuge room; I'd forgotten to close it in haste of avoiding Mercury. Then I realized it was a really bad move.

"What's in there?"

"What...?"

"What were you _two_ doing in my refuge room?"

I widened my eyes; Duo had said it conversationally cold, but I could feel his rage. Mercury said Duo knew...

"Duo... what are you doing with that gun?" I tried.

"I ASKED YOU FIRST, HEERO; SO ANSWER ME FIRST...!" he pointed the gun at me.

I clamped my jaws.

He looked delirious...

Duo sighed his anger out with a grimace, or a derisive smile, or a sad frown... I couldn't recognize his feelings.

"...what were you doing in Chinatown?"

My body stiffened at that, though I was positive I had my expression neutral.

"What are you talking about-"

"What were you doing in that place ABOVE CHINATOWN, HEERO?" Duo charged towards me with the gun, I stepped back until my back hit the wall; I could feel the gun pressed on my chest... I thought he could feel my heartbeat accelerated through the barrel.

"I don't care about Red Smiley; what were _you_ doing there?" he asked with wet eyes; his shoulder was shaking... I could calm my heartbeat in seconds.

I could...-

Duo knew.

"What do you want me to say?" I asked stubbornly; and widened my eyes in disbelief when he actually hit my face with the gun, which he pressed to my chest again afterwards.

No hesitation.

I stared at the floor.

No remorse.

I stared at his face again; he pulled his chin up daring me to not answering him again.

No Duo...

"Duo..." I called him almost silently; and his other hand was around my neck, hitting my head to the wall behind me.

"Lie, Heero..." he said slowly; "You know how much I hate liars...!"

I clamped my mouth shut.

Not now.

Duo's eyes were staring me as if staring a stranger.

I couldn't breathe.

Not now...

I was always a stranger.

Duo had known it for a long time.

* * *

Not now, Duo...

* * *

Duo yelped when I threw the towel-hanger beside me as hard as I could at him; and I pushed his body aside running desperately to the bedroom door; I had a gun under the couch's cushion.

A couple of bangs heard and I dove reflexively to the floor. A bullet grazed my left shin, I rolled to the right side and desperately tried to reach the cabinet near the round window, I had a gun plastered under the second drawer.

Duo knew where I hid my guns in the house too.

Another bang; I felt my right shoulder burnt. I turned my body still sitting on the floor and pointed my gun using my right hand; it was trembling with fear, not because of the pain, not because it bled.

Duo stood in front of the bedroom doorway with a smoking barrel; I had cocked my gun in reflex when I pulled it out.

We're pointing our guns at each other...

. . . . . . not now, Duo . . . !

I pleaded him with my eyes; he stared me with apathetic eyes.

"You don't need me, do you...?" he asked almost gently.

No anger.

No fear.

No feelings.

"Why are you still here, Heero?" he walked slowly towards me; I squirmed and tried to back myself even more, though I knew my back had already pressed tightly to the cabinet, the drawer handle dug painfully on my waist.

"No..." Duo took a pause, his feet stopped. "What have you done to my-Heero...?" He stared down at me coldly.

Duo always knew.

He smiled, it didn't reach his eyes.

I stared at him, shaking in fear as I held the gun with both hands.

"Where is he? Where's my-Heero?" his tone was gentle, almost sounded caring.

I sobbed.

"Who are you...?" his smile widened as if in mockery, a flash of gleam in his cold eyes said he was enjoying this.

"Stop it!" I cried, almost couldn't recognize my own voice myself; it had sounded pathetic and shameful.

"If you want to break off with me, just say so...!" I said loudly.

"If you don't want me anymore, just say so...!" my voice turn high-pitched and broken.

"If you want to kill me, just do it; just STOP TORTURING MEEE...!" I cried at the top of my lungs.

"STOP TORTURING ME, DUO MAXWELL...!" I pleaded; my face was wet by tears, my eyes felt hot. My fingers had gone numb... Even if I tried to shoot Duo to defend myself I wouldn't be able to squeeze the trigger.

I sobbed openly; I couldn't care less how pathetic I looked right now.

"...just kill me...!"

...not now...

"...haven't you tortured me enough...?" I begged and cried unashamedly.

It's a relief.

. . . even if I pleaded him 'not now' I knew he wouldn't listen.

"Where's my-Heero? Where is he...?" Duo's voice shook and tears started to fell down his cheeks too.

"I knew you're not him; I always knew...!" his gun shook, anytime now his nervous finger could squeeze the trigger unintended, I thought. "Please tell me where he is...!"

...perhaps it wouldn't be unintended.

Duo's in pain.

'Perhaps you could relieve Duo from his pains, too', Mercury had said.

. . . not now.

I lowered my gun; my hands fell limply on my laps.

I smiled my resignation.

"...I knew you knew..." I said softly, averting my eyes from his.

"You pretended you didn't realize it... so I thought... you didn't mind wichever Heero was with you..." I smiled. I was a fool for letting myself drowned in such delusion.

So it's now, after all.

"...I'm sorry to hurt you this much, Duo Maxwell..." I should say sorry to Red Smiley too since I'd let his last brew gone to waste; the last brew he'd made using his last breaths. I've betrayed the old man since the beginning.

I'm sorry.

I pulled the trigger.

Sharp pains biting my flesh; I thought my brain should be scattering on the floor by now. There were more than one bang ringing my ears. Duo's foot on my chest knocking the air out of my lungs; I pulled my bent legs up by the pain.

My right hand fell bleeding on the floor beside my body.

I coughed and wheezed, trying to catch my breath for some painful heartbeats.

Duo threw his empty gun somewhere.

I didn't dare staring at his face again. So he wouldn't let me have the dignity to take my own life.

"...hurry and relieve yourself...!" I said still looking down; I'd stopped crying. I resigned.

Duo fell to his knees.

His hands were ice-cold and shaking when they touched my wet face. His left hand lowered to grab my neck.

". . . when?" He's crying too, but his voice didn't betray him. I knew he was strong. He's The Duo Maxwell who'd rule the world, after all.

I resigned.

"...you would rather kill me with your own hands than let me self-destruct, hu?" I smiled.

Duo stilled, his breathing stopped for a moment.

"Was it then...?"

He knew...

And yet he still tortured me with questions.

I opened my mouth. Nothing came out. I clamped it again, and nodded slowly.

Duo's right hand lowered to around my neck too; I imagined it took his whole strength to fight his will to wring my neck then and there.

"Tell me he's not dead...?"

You just have to torture me more, right, Duo?

His hands squeezed tight for several seconds and loosened again. I tightened my lips flat, he wouldn't let me have a quick death too, it seemed.

A dry laugh. "So he actually succeeded to self-destruct...?"

I bit my lower lip.

"...you just took his place in the explosion then?" I could hear his ironic smile in his voice.

I nodded again.

"The future-Quatre sent you?" it wasn't a question; but I nodded nonetheless.

"You were..." his breaths struggled for awhile, "...the baby in _that_ tank that future-Trowa was protecting with his own life?"

I couldn't nod; my chin trembled. How I wished I could shake my head to negate that.

There was a painful pause after that. All I could feel was his hands tightened and loosened on my neck.

If he could just decide to end it, already...

". . . . . . you were sent to kill me in that prison where my-Heero hadn't carried on with his order?" Duo's voice sounded small and hurt now.

"No..." he loosened his grips. "Why didn't you...?" and lowered his hands onto my bent legs.

"Why didn't you kill me?" his voice sounded like a hurt child, pleading.

He wanted to hear 'because I love you'... I knew.

"Because you pitied me that I had just lost the person whom I would turn your world upside down for...?"

He sounded angry again.

I stilled.

"Or you thought that you could just claim his place and kill me whenever you thought I'd become that monster you knew in your world...? That you could do it anytime... and if I still in the safe side you'd be happy for it that you could still be pretending as my-Heero?"

I resigned...

I resigned, so shut up!

"Tell me why you didn't kill me that time!" Duo grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard.

I didn't know why I didn't do it.

Duo was smirking at me, and I just lowered my gun; I didn't know why.

I didn't know why Duo smirked at me...

I was only a stranger resembling his fallen comrade.

Why did you smirk at me with confidence shone in your eyes?

Why did you confide in me...?

I glanced at the floor without turning my head; my gun was lying under the light coming through the round window. It looked like it was gleaming with holy light.

That's my salvation...

If I could just push Duo far enough and grab that gun. I could relieve him from dirtying his hands to kill me too...

"-Heero..." Duo called out painfully.

...my salvation...

"...my-Heero..."

...that I didn't deserve.

"...my-Heero!" he pulled me tight into his embrace.

It hurt.

"...my-Heero!"

Stop calling out to him...!

"My-Heero!"

"Stop it!" I begged and tried to free myself; he tightened his hands so strongly that I couldn't breathe.

"My-Heero! You're my-Heero...!" he rocked our bodies as if trying to relieve his pains.

I gritted my teeth, I couldn't breathe.

"My-Heero...!"

Shut up!

"...shut up, Duo Maxwell!" I said hoarsely; my tears started to flow again.

It hurt.

I felt his lips on my temple, kissing it gently again and again.

I shut my eyes tightly.

"...stooop...!" I begged with broken voice.

"My-Heero..." he kept mumbling as if in trance, alternating with kisses on my head and cheek. I feared him now more than ever.

"...please stop, Duo...!"

He placed his lips on mine then, shutting me up; but it was gently so. I stiffened, and he pulled me into his embrace again, carefully this time, keeping my head under his chin as if protecting something so dear to him.

I didn't deserve salvation...

Duo silenced and just rocked us gently.

He's hurting.

...better hurting together than hurting alone...

I'd resigned, hadn't I, Duo?

I could move my arms. My right arm was hurting and bleeding but I could move it too...

Duo's clothes got my blood all over them, but he seemed like he didn't care. So I gripped the front of his jacket tightly. I didn't realize I was wailing and crying my eyes out until after he kissed my shut eyelids in turns.

I didn't realize he was calling out to me...

"I'm sorry..."

"...I'm sorry I denied you for so long..." he whispered silently into my ears.

It hurt.

So I cried my heart out.

* * *

En was trembling in my arms; he'd been gripping and pulling at the sleeves of my jacket since we heard the first shot. I wouldn't be surprised if they're out of shape after this; I'll just cut them off and made it sleeveless, I thought.

We could smell blood just fine...

To my surprise it didn't take that much strength to prevent him from barging in into the apartment; even in my current weakened condition.

He could easily kill anyone, if not everyone, when he lost it. I supposed he realized it too; that's why he'd cling to me to stop himself.

He couldn't help crying, though.

Their feelings overwhelming the air must have overcome him.

...if it's me; I could pretend that I had no feelings at all to deal with it.

. . . . . . the wall on my back felt cold.

I wasn't human to begin with...

* * *

Tou-san's crying loudly now.

I didn't hear the sound of the gun went off anymore. I could picture what was happening just by the sounds and voices; I thought it should've stopped now...

I urged Sun-nii to move.

I pulled him along to the door; it's alright, I could picture what happened behind that closed panel... nobody died.

It's alright...

I turned the handle open; Sun-nii pushed the panel ajar when I just stilled after that.

Tou-san and Papa were huddled on the floor near the round window; there was blood here and there...

Papa turned his head slowly to us, his face wet by tears and blood. For a long moment he only stared us from there; I wondered if Papa couldn't recognize us at all.

Tou-san looked so small as he balled his body at Papa's front; Papa had bigger body, after all.

A hand presented to us.

Papa presented his left arm open to us... it was dripping with Tou-san's blood.

Papa didn't smile, although he looked relieved. Perhaps later when he'd waken from this relief he would resent us again; so I took that offer, I stepped inside pulling Sun-nii along.

Tou-san glanced at me when I neared them; he looked like he was trying to fight his crying to stop but couldn't. Wasn't he only a child too...?

"...Tou-...san...!" I let out a hic-up and lowered my body to hug him. My heart felt like it's about to burst anytime. I cried there not knowing whether I was sad or happy.

I cried because our fathers were crying.

* * *

I stood behind En and stared at Papa staring at me. He'd lowered his left hand when we neared them, and let it fell to the floor limply.

En joined the huddled-party and cried again; though I guessed he cried for a right reason this time.

Papa eyed me almost blankly.

He looked relieved but in shock. His eyes were still wet, but he'd stopped crying.

So he passed his test with flying colors; although I'd prefer he didn't hurt Toucchama in the process.

I guessed he needed a reward...

He stiffened and slumped limply when I hugged his kneeling body from behind.

. . . . . . you had passed it, Papa.

* * *

My equation was still not balanced.

It didn't need to be...

* * *

I yelped again when I felt several stings burnt my right hand and arm, and doubled over pulling the seatbelt forward.

Wu Fei glanced at me a couple times and honked the horn repeatedly in impatient.

"Who was it?" he asked with hardened tone, he was gritting his teeth so hard he'd be complaining about hurting gums later.

"...I don't know... Heero... Duo; perhaps both...!" I moaned for a second; "...I got mixed lengths; the boys are there too!"

Wu Fei's brows frowned deeper; he cursed out loud in Chinese at the traffic, and deciding he was too impatient to even curse, then he glanced at the rearview mirror and shifted the gear backward. There was an alley that we just passed; Wu Fei steered the car through the sidewalk and made a sharp turn, then ignoring some miscellaneous things at the sides of the alley, he steered backward with determination on his face.

"Wu Fei...!" I gaped at him, seeing pedestrians dove and slammed themselves to the walls to dodge the car.

"Sorry about the car, Quatre; we'll be sorry if we're too late...!" he gritted his teeth.

I gaped wider at him; it wasn't the car I was concerned about... but he got the point too.

Driving through some alleyways after some turns, moaning my complaints about the bumps and shaking; I found myself facing a long railway when I opened my eyes.

"Still hurts...?" Wu Fei asked with concern.

"Mhmmm... no..." I felt my chest tightened. "My chest... felt like it's going to explode..."

Wu Fei tsk-ed; "We'll be there. The next turn...!"

As the rundown apartment building was in sight, I hastily pull off the seatbelt and opened the door even before the car stopped. Wu Fei che-ed and pulled to stop in front of the verdure, I was trying to run inside but my body was shaken as I entered the building's air.

"Take your time, I'll cover it...!" Wu Fei said as he ran passed me.

I cursed under my breath, and pushed myself forward as fast as I could. In the corridor, the elderly couple was standing with anxious and confused faces looking upstairs and at me in turns.

"Sh-should we call the police...?" the wife asked as I passed them.

"No, Ma-am, thank-you. We got it...!" I tried a smile and ran to the stairs.

"Should I call some help...?" the artist-guy from the second level asked too.

"It's alright; thanks...!" I said passed my shoulder as I climbed up to the upper level.

"There's more than one gun...!" he said loudly.

"Go inside...!" I answered.

I had to catch my breath on the landing of Duo's apartment; it was only a few wheezes but my mind urged me to go incessantly. I continued again and almost stopped when I saw Wu Fei stood petrified in front of the widely opened door. I was almost afraid with what I'd see there.

Duo would put Hero's light out, and burnt himself out denying... I prayed it wasn't that Duo killed Heero and killed himself afterwards.

The thing my eyes recognized first was the color of blood; fresh blood spattered on the back of the couch, the floor and some walls; some was smeared as the evident of struggles, travelled along the doorway of the bedroom to the far wall across the front door where we stood.

My ears caught the multiple crying sounds and I feared the worst, recognizing the huddled figures on the floor near the round window; noticing there were two guns lying around.

I didn't see Heero...

I stepped inside and inhaled, "Duo...? Where's Heero?" I asked carefully.

Wu Fei stepped in too following my slow steps.

Duo turned around very slowly in Soleil's embrace, they both had their back towards me; when he eventually stared at my face, I swallowed my nervousness seeing how lifeless his eyes were.

"Quatre...? Heero's dead..." Duo tried a smile. "He died; I told you he died... you said to belief in him, but I knew he'd died..."

My brows twitched in alert; Duo's words were not making sense.

"Duo..." I stepped closer and recognized the brown head embraced in En's arms at Duo's front. I was about to rush to them, thinking that they were embracing Heero's dead body and almost bark at Wu Fei to call for ambulance when that brown head moved.

"Heero...!" Wu Fei was instantly on the floor next to En, looking concerned about the dripping blood from Heero's wounds.

I just stared there, Heero glanced at my face and when our eyes met I could see how much he was frightened of me, burrowing his face in Duo's chest and pushing himself as though if he could fuse his body together with Duo's he could hide himself from me.

Duo stared down at him for some seconds, then pulled his balled body tighter into his arms, answering his gesture of asking help.

_Why me...?_ My mind asked.

_Why are you afraid of me?_ I stood there unable to move; Soleil stared at me with his olden insensate eyes again.

I felt like being judged then... that the future-me was their fathers' enemy.

* * *

_Saru's note:_

_saru bought a flannel shirt; the thickness, the color, the velvety soft surface... it's just so perfect; saru love it so much. but the size... uhm, it's read 'L-285/571' at the lower (waist) label, and '47/48' on the collar label. saru isn't familiar with the numbering, but 'L' shouldn't be that much different with local's adult all-size, saru thought.  
when saru put it on... the end reached saru's shins...  
instead of L-size... perhaps it's Ryuuku-size? :d ...hmmmmm_

1. read that line in yaoi-manga too much, couldn't help but laughed when typing it... -Lol.

had to get this scene out of saru's system, 'cause saru couldn't sleep always picturing it over and over... (works still not done too...!)

**Thanx for reading**


	13. list 13: don't let go

**The future never lies 'gaku 20 sept, 11**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's…too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…some dark things coming ahead_

_character's POV _

**13. List # 13: DON'T LET GO… because you might die tomorrow eventhough the apocalypse may not come soon**

The shower was good, my wounds were hurting and the water on the floor turned red, but I felt it was alright.

Duo didn't really shoot to kill me, or to hurt me that much; the bullet wounds were all just graze wounds. I was running to the couch back then, so granted some wounds were deeper than the others. But he didn't intend to kill me...

He should have... let me did it myself if he couldn't do it...!

I didn't deserve this place...

I didn't deserve salvation...

I sighed at the mirror, the towel was dyed with red color; I got the fresh bandages out and calculating which wound I should bandage first.

The door of the bathroom opened; I turned to face it, knowing I had locked it when I got in.

Soleil smiled gently... I thought so.

I eyed him for a moment; he chuckled at me.

"I know; En couldn't sleep at Quatre-sama's place, so we slipped out of there around 4.00 AM and hid under your bed...!" his tone was implying 'I'm surprised you hadn't realized it', but I ignored it.

"I'll help you with that; please, sit." He took the bandage roll I was holding in my left hand and pulled me behind to sit on the bathtub edge as he stood inside it.

"Papa is still a good-shooter, right...?" his tone was light, he was pointing at the fact that I didn't have a single bullet break through my body; "You shouldn't have let the wounds to reopen, though, Toucchama...!" and admonished me gently.

I stared at his reflection in the mirror; he looked relieved to some extent, almost happily so.

"Did you have a good sleep with Papa last night?" he asked, eyes concentrating on the bandaging he was doing.

Quatre had taken the boys with him, with Wu Fei along; they seemed to want to give us some time alone, trusting us that we had sorted our problem, or perhaps thought that given time alone we would sort it out eventually; as if being scared that their meddling would cause more damage. But the problem wasn't about Duo rampaging with rage...

It was me...

"Did you sleep at all last night...?" Soleil's voice tinted with a knowing tone.

I just had the shock of my life; did he think I'd be thinking about sleep at all?

I stared down as he knelt to bandage my leg; his agile hands completed the task faster than I could. He smiled at me as he looked up once he finished.

"...still tired, Toucchama?"

He stood up, "I'll make breakfast, you should go back to bed." he offered.

I stared.

He stared back, cocking his head to the side as if he could see more clearly of me by doing so. His right hand touched my cheek, it was bruised as Duo hit it with his gun yesterday; he cupped and brushed it with his thumb. His eyes turned prussian color as they dimmed.

"You might think that I should probably call you 'Nii-san' or something alike, since you're actually my predecessor instead of my 'source'..." he said silently. "Papa needs you as an equal, though."

I knew that...

Stepping back into the bathtub, he hugged me from behind; resting his head on my bandaged right shoulder, kissing the reddened cloth gently.

". . . don't make that face...!" he whispered soothingly.

"Don't let Mercury use your weakness against you...!"

I stiffened at the mention of that name; knowing that entity had gone from the apartment just before Duo arrived yesterday but still watching us unrolled the drama; I imagined his smile broadened at whatever outcome might be resulted. Enjoying us struggling and breaking... and how we were painfully hating ourselves.

"If Papa had killed you yesterday..." Soleil took a pause making sure my mind could follow; "...Mercury would claim your body and bring you back as _his_...!" the boyish voice pressed the last word. "He could 'stop' any other living-creature from living, so he could actually 'start' one if he wanted to. Don't be fooled by his kind touch, Toucchama!"

"I know... about _that_..." he closed his eyes. "I know, so... you shouldn't be hurting alone. I'll keep it from En..." he whispered to my ear.

". . . so, you should keep it from Papa, too...!" his tone held finality to it.

I frowned at his reflection; feeling like wanting to cry again, but my tears wouldn't come out. My body trembled and I gripped the bathtub rim as hard as I could, feeling the blood seeping through the white cloth as I tightened my muscles.

". . . . . . I don't deserve it . . ." I breathed.

Soleil's small hands hugged me tighter.

I didn't deserve it; that salvation Duo offered. If he knew... if only he knew the details of what had happened when _that_ Heero self-destructed... he would...

"Keep it from Papa..." Soleil breathed in my ear. "He doesn't need to know...!"

Duo didn't need to know...

...that his Heero was alive when I arrived.

That he was killed in that explosion because my-Sender wouldn't risk it to have two Heeros at _that_ time.

That he was killed because the wormhole used to send me to that time had fused his body into the energy field to perform that explosion...

. . . that _I_ had killed him.

"Papa doesn't need to know the details." Soleil's voice hypnotized me, or was it because I wanted anyone to say that it's alright that it had happened?

"It's alright, Otou-san..." he pressed softly. "It's alright...!"

I closed my eyes, loosening the tight grips I had on the tub rim. Perhaps it was alright...

It's alright if Duo didn't know that... _small_... detail.

. . . it's alright.

I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding; my chest felt tight, not because of the bandage. My heart constricted; I felt nauseous and lightheaded. My chin was trembling as I wheezed in some needed air. How I hate myself...! This pathetic hypocrite...!

". . . so young . . .!" I heard Soleil whispered again, his tone was apathetic and far away; then I felt his fingers brushed my lips.

I widened my eyes, and a shiver running down my spine. He felt it too... he smiled delightfully.

". . . so deliciously in pain!" he breathed ever so slowly, I stared wide-eyed at his reflection before his head tilted forward and his lips covered mine. He kissed me languidly and tilted my head up using one of his hands under my chin.

I froze.

What... who was this persona kissing me? My mind asked endlessly as my body gone numb by the surprise.

I tried to call his name, perhaps he'd snap out of it, I thought; but my fears said if I opened my mouth he'd take it as an invitation to deepen the kiss. I clamped my jaws tightly, feeling his lips pulled to the sides as if he was enjoying my thoughts. I had an image of Mercury's smile bloomed in my head...

I held my breath for too long, my lungs flared in need of oxygen; my hands trembled clutching the tub rim again, needing a support to hang on to as I felt like drowning in a bizarre dream.

He pulled out in a snap.

"En's waking up...!" he whispered as if disappointed. Acting as if nothing's wrong, he walked to the bathroom door.

He chuckled.

"That should lift your mood again, right?" he said passed his shoulder before he got out.

I stared at him gone from my sight. And the door closed. And I slumped to the floor lifelessly.

My breaths were short and shallow and my mind blanked; my brain short-circuited so I needed to reset...

What were you doing? My conscience flustered with self-conscious; and knew that was not Soleil... who kissed me.

At least not the person he'd showed to us this whole time. He looked somewhat mature, looking down at me as if I was a child to him.

* * *

Duo was sitting cross-legged on the bed, staring down a wide-innocent-eyed En sitting in front of him; he looked at me instantly when I got out of the bathroom door, a flash of guilt in his eyes. He stared at me kind of sadly, as if wanted to be forgiven.

Duo needed me as an equal, Soleil had said.

"Tou-san...!" En jumped on the bed as he saw me.

"No skin-ship for you this morning; so, shoo...!" Duo chased him away almost reflexively, his face tinted with light pink flush.

"Eeh? Why not? We want to feel Tou-san, too...!" En whined while Soleil wound a hand around his neck to pull him along as he retreated outside the bedroom to the kitchen.

"Whaat?" Duo exclaimed pointing a finger at them with accusing possessive tone, daring him to make another slight comment. Soleil chuckled deeply knowing En's innocent words and Duo's dirty mind.

I stared at Duo losing his spitefulness and fidgeted on the bed when he felt my eyes burned at him.

He turned his face slowly to me, flushed when he saw my face was flushed red too.

"Don't..." he averted his eyes hesitantly, "...make that kind of face first thing in the morning...!" he accused; "Freshly out of shower with wet hair, too..." I heard him mumbled under his breath.

. . . just one thing... if I could belief him enough before I take his offer...

"Duo..." he flinched when I called out softly; he was afraid I would resent him. He needed me... no; he needed a _Heero_, not necessarily _me_.

"...If... fortuitously..." I was afraid of my own words. "..._that_ Heero... survived..."

He gripped the blanket tightly.

"What would you do with me...?" I'd already resigned; so I shouldn't feel afraid anymore... so I thought. I needed to know...

Duo turned his face from me for a long moment, hiding his expression with his long bangs; his chin trembled.

"I... don't know..." he eventually spoke with a pained smile; "...show me he's alive; so I could figure out what to do with you...!"

I stared at him; the always indecisive Duo Maxwell. The King of Torture.

I stepped forward towards him; he flinched again, being so conscious of me, while he was the one holding me lying on this bed the whole night. I guessed he couldn't help it.

Climbing onto the bed and sat in front of him, I waited until he could face me again; yesterday he was in shock of losing his precious one, so he wasn't really in his right mind to think about me as he offered me this place.

..._his_ place.

He gradually faced me; I could see my face reflected in his searching eyes. I made that pathetic face again; no wonder he felt pity on me. He looked like he was searching for words to be spoken to me, but I didn't need his words. I knelt and wound my arms around his shoulders, pulling him to rest his head on my chest; letting him hear the beating of my heart.

He stiffened for several seconds, but gradually melted.

"You can kill me anytime you want, Duo Maxwell. This heart is yours..." I said slowly.

He stiffened again at that; I was expecting him to lash out again, he struggled with himself for some moments; then grabbed my waist in a strong embrace, trembling as he fought his demons. I'd caused him that much suffer; Red Smiley would have mocked me for this... what a hypocrite I'd become.

". . . Heero . . ." he tried slowly, "I . . ."

"BREAKFAST'S READYYY!" Soleil beamed brightly just like his name was, the sun, standing victoriously by the doorway with the big apron made his body seemed small and cute. The evil gleam in his violet eyes said he was doing it intentionally with his 'perfect' timing.

I felt Duo shrunk; no, more like shriveled. Slowly he let go of me and turned his head to his mini-self, his veins were popping out.

"You...!" he breathed.

On reflex I stepped between them before another gun blow off. "What are we having?" I tried as neutral as I could sound.

"Pancakes! Sweet and light, but enough carbohydrate to be active...!" Soleil beamed. Behind him, En looked somewhat nervous, recognizing Duo's dark mood again.

A silent pause reigned after that. Then when I thought Duo would ignore them again, he actually sighed and got off of bed. "...alright." he said.

"Let's go eat, then...!" he pulled my left hand along; "You better made many, since we skipped dinner yesterday!" he warned the boys with half grumbling. Hearing that I just remembered I was hungry, too.

En beamed then; "Papa... you can have them while I make more!" he covered his shy smile with the spatula still in his hands.

Duo snorted his positive to that, but his hand tightened gripping my hand; he still felt awkward, I guessed.

Soleil chuckled at my side; there was still that strange gleam in his eyes that made me nervous. His eyes told me he knew what I felt too, and I turned away from them feeling my face flushed... before Duo saw it on my face.

* * *

Wu Fei dropped by when we had our late breakfast; he said he wanted to take some necessary items for his stakeout, but Duo knew he was actually worried about us. He urged me to go check my wounds to a doctor, the Preventer's doctor if I didn't want to explain things to Sally.

I declined gently.

He looked unsatisfied with my reasoning, but knew he couldn't bend me even if he tried. "How much time do you need?" he asked in the end.

"Time for what?" Duo asked back.

Wu Fei arched his shoulders. "Making out?" he asked with straight face.

Duo gaped with hostile face at him at that, flustered but angry at the straight question.

Wu Fei blinked. "Not yet? Making up, then?"

From the kitchenette I could hear En's voice asking, "...what's the different, Nii-san?"

Duo gasped from the couch at the kitchen door, and glared at Wu Fei with full throttle. Wu Fei cocked his head to that direction too.

"You can see it in the dictionary, En-nii...!" Soleil answered lightly.

"Oh..." Wu Fei commented and faced us back, examining our faces. "I thought you've had skin-ship with them too...!" he teased with neutral face.

Duo threw the tissue box from under the glass-table to him, which he caught easily.

"Well, I got the day off for you, Heero. Take some rest; this is not the war days so you could actually let others do your work when you're hurt...!" Wu Fei said as he walked to the front door, putting the tissue box on the TV cabinet on his way out.

"Sorry...!" Duo mumbled when Wu Fei was out.

I glanced at him. "I'm used to being hurt..." I cut.

"...not by my hands...!" Duo admitted darkly.

I glanced at him again; I wanted to point out that he actually shot me twice in our first meeting, in front of Relena too... but that would be _that_ Heero; I only had _his_ memory so I could replace _him_.

Duo saw my mood lurched down again, he fidgeted nervously.

"Say..., Heero." he tried after giving some thoughts. "Want to go outside somewhere?"

I blinked at him. He cleared his throat. "I mean, let's forget about our fights and bad-Ned for awhile, and have some fun? We haven't really had quality time for quite some time, right?"

"Oooh, are we going on a date?" Soleil popped up behind the couch with his 'perfect' timing again.

Duo jerked in surprise, accusing him with eyes saying 'weren't you in the kitchen just now?'.

"Hey, En-nii, we're going out on a daaate...!" he called out ignoring Duo's annoyed face.

"No, we're not...!" Duo pointed a finger to him again.

Soleil stopped from his walk to the kitchen direction; En popped his head out from between the beads curtains.

"We're not? But isn't that 'making up'...?" Soleil asked with innocent eyes. He cocked his head to the side, "Oh, Papa wants to skip it and go straight to 'making out', then?" he said as if thinking loudly.

"We're going out! Tell me where you want to go, I'll leave you-imps there for the rest of _my_ days...!" Duo stood quickly and bared his teeth at the chuckling Soleil.

"Where do you want to go, En-nii?" Soleil ignored Duo's last words and asked with laughing eyes.

En blinked and rubbed his chin, "There's this place Cath said about a park with rides-...!" he answered with a big smile.

"Museum! We'll go to a museum, so hurry up and get chaaanged...!" Duo fisted his hand and let out a fiery yell.

I blinked at the exchange and just thought that they didn't really hear me approving this sudden plan while I was the only one with multiple gunshot wounds on my body here. So, Duo still didn't want to be seen in a public place full with crowd with the boys; perhaps it's the better since he was probably marked by the mobs too. I sighed silently, feeling like I had to babysit three boys for the whole day.

* * *

Duo made a commotion on the stairs as we went down, he was still picking a fight with Soleil who was seemingly enjoying teasing him. I didn't care which one of them was the more childish boy, either way; just as long as there's no gun fired or anything blown to thin air.

When we got to the second level, the apartment door of the artist-guy suddenly opened; as if he was waiting for us coming down.

"Owh...!" his face paled in surprise as he faced me. "Hey, congratulations! Please don't get too excited next time and hurt each other too much, okay?" he grinned with flushed face.

I blinked at him; Duo's brow twitched at something he implied, but didn't really grasp it.

"...'morning." I answered neutrally.

"Cath, have a good day...!" En waved with a big smile as we passed.

"Take care...!" the colorful guy waved back.

Duo was still looking behind his back with a frown as we got to the first level.

"Oh, there you are...!" the old lady beamed at us, but looked worried as she looked at my face. "Please wait!" she hurried into her apartment and came out again with a flower bouquet freshly cut from her window boxes.

I blinked at the bouquet as she pushed it into my left hand and she patted my head with a flushed happy face. "I should be happy for you, but you're somewhat worry-some looking like this...!"

"And, Young Man; I should congratulate you, but I'd feel better if you take care of each other more! It's not my right to butt in, but I'd hate to see your smaller partner got bullied, alright...?" he told Duo with that Granny's admonishing tone.

Duo blinked at that. "...uhmmm... I'm sorry...?" he answered half-reflexively with a sweat-drop.

"Good morning, Ms. Lisa...!" En smiled.

"Oh, you're going to have some fun, right? Would you like to take some sweets with you for lunch?" she offered happily.

"No, thank-you for your kindness, Ma-am..." En chuckled with a happy-shy face; Soleil stared at his face, and nodded his greeting to her when she waved at them.

I stared at the bouquet as we walked out the building; Duo hadn't uttered a sound since then.

". . . what was that all about...?" he quipped once we crossed the railway crossing.

Soleil chuckled behind us. "This morning when we got down to fetch some milk from the minimart, En said to them when they asked what happened yesterday that 'you two were having newlywed's familiarization night'...!"

"A WHaaaaTTT?" Duo yelled with comical face.

En jumped and hid behind his brother's back; "...that's not right...?" he asked with scared face.

Soleil chuckled; "Not really the same, En-nii; but Papa wouldn't mind with that answer, right, Papa?"

Duo made some fish-mouth still flustered, and I sighed in comprehension. "That came from your future-Papa collection again...?"

En nodded with wide eyes.

Duo face-palmed. ". . . . . . I won't throw them away even if you say 'I say so'...!" he muttered at me. Well, his manga collection wasn't suitable for people having children at home, if I'd say, but he loved them anyway. I smiled at his stubborn face.

* * *

En squealed happily chasing some pigeons as they flew from the stone grounds, Soleil chuckled at his brother's happy face.

Duo squirmed as our hands brushed when we walk behind the excited boys.

Something in my mind...

"Duo... are you sure?"

Duo glanced at me for a short moment; a shadow of sadness darkened his eyes. "About you...? Couldn't we just forget that for now, Heero?"

"Your mind should be pointing out to you why I hadn't grown in the past years, too, right...?" I said silently.

Duo silenced, looking down as our steps slowed down. "Were you hurt...?" he frowned, "Say like, when you were still in the... _tank_... when, you know...-"

I stared him refusing to face me. "No. I was made into this _size_...!" I said neutrally.

After a few more steps passed, the words finally sunk into his mind. "...so... you can't grow?"

"I can't." I said summing it up.

"Like..." he had his mischievous grin for a moment, "Peter Pan or a vampire...?" he pointed out.

I blinked; staring him neutrally.

"Well... shouldn't it be good that you'd have eternal youth everyone so freaking out to find?" he tried to joke or be positive, but averted his eyes from me.

I stared.

"So, summing it up; when I get like thirty years old, you'd still looking like you're 15?" he turned his face at me, had one end of his lips pulled up. "Even when I'm fifty, you're still going to look like this...?" his tone sounded bothered with a shy frown.

I was happy that he'd said it like he was going to stay with me through that length of time; I smiled at him. "Even when you're starting to get bald, I'd still be looking like this, Duo...!"

Duo flushed with a deeper frown; "I won't get bald...!"

I chuckled; cherishing the accepting air around him that I hadn't felt for so long... no, I had never felt before this. I wound my left arm around his right, since my wounded arm was secured in a sling with the bouquet in it too. Duo's face flushed and his other hand held my wrapping arm.

. . . . . . If he knew, that I wouldn't have that long a time to live; he'd be sad again. I just prayed that he wouldn't become that future-Duo that sounded like he was so hurting trying to find his Heero when I finally die.

* * *

"There's no one around...!" En pointed out.

I agreed silently.

"It's just like this place is booked for us, then...!" Duo grinned, but his brows were frowning. Soleil ignored his intention clearly showed in his actions, that Duo didn't want to show the boys to people if he could.

"Let's see the catalogues, Nii-san...!" he called out and opened the thick book near the ground plan of the whole museum.

They flipped the pages in an instant, holding the whole pages from behind and let them slid orderly exposing page per page to the last one in one stride; then returned to us again.

"We're done...!" Soleil reported.

Duo froze for a moment. He didn't expect that, it seemed.

"Are-... aren't you going to at least see the museum's exhibits for awhile?" he stammered.

I stared at him, he too should at least consider the boys as not _boys_ from now on, I thought.

"We already have the data in our heads, Papa. Should we really see the real things?" Soleil asked neutrally.

"That's... what art is all about!" Duo reasoned, which wasn't very convincing even to my ears. "You should at least feel the awe when you see with your own eyes that the Pisa is tilting and that Sphinx lost its nose...!"

I blinked at that. _Those are not in the art museum exhibition, Duo_.

"There's no Sphinx in this museum." En reasoned.

"There is...!" Duo insisted, sounding hesitant but still stubborn.

Soleil glanced at me and I flicked my head slowly, not really wanting to arch my shoulders.

"What kind of an art museum doesn't even have a painting of a Sphinx...?" he reasoned to himself.

I sweat-dropped. _The Renaissance paintings museum?_ -I wanted to quip but decided I'd just let him have some time to interrelate with the boys; or at least one of them... seeing that Soleil seemed like he wasn't interested in that game.

"Why don't you try to find that painting with Papa, En-nii? I'll wait with Toucchama in the cafè across the street..." Soleil smiled.

Duo turned his face at me and probably just realized that I didn't feel like walking around right now. He gaped and looking apologetic and perhaps going to decide that we better go home right away.

"There's no Sphinx in this museum." En insisted.

I chuckled at Duo's expression. If you really want to feel the awe seeing Sphinx then you should just witness the real thing, anyway.

". . . let's find one, then...!" Duo dared En, sounding like he already lost with his reasoning. I waved at them as they left us by the museum entrance.

"You're really pale, Toucchama. You should've declined going out, in the first place." Soleil said at me once they're out of sight.

I silenced for a moment, not meeting his eyes.

"You know what I'm doing now...!" I admitted.

Soleil silenced too, there was something offensive in his air for a moment but it wasn't directed at me. Turning his face generally outside, he asked; "They're making a move? That's why you're in Father's office yesterday when Mercury hunted you down..."

I frowned and fisted my left hand at my thigh.

"I take it Fei-ji-chan is near, then?" he started to walk out. I followed. "If you really don't want them to target Father, you could have me erase all of them...!" he offered lightly.

I frowned in dislike.

"I'm a war tool, Toucchama; perhaps you've forgotten?" he smiled confidently at me.

"That'd be murder." I closed the subject. _No, massacre_; my mind whispered.

Soleil chuckled angelically; "...why not?" he reasoned, but didn't touch that subject again when we sat in the cafè, and acted like a normal boy for once.

We had drinks and watched the daily crowds for some time; I felt nauseous a little, like waiting for something bad to happen, but tried to ignore it.

My cellphone rang, it was Wu Fei.

"Are you still there?" he asked without greetings.

"At the cafè across; why?" I answered knowing something bad must have happened.

"I lost contact with the other guys...!" Wu Fei said with worry.

"Hold on, I got a text coming in...!" I cut the phone and widened my eyes at the message, my body stiffened with anger.

"Toucchama?" Soleil asked and peeked at my cellphone screen.

It's read [w,], from Duo's cell.

"...double-u comma...?" he asked, and then realized the meaning too.

"One time button '9', two times button '1'...!" I said outloud. (1)

Soleil stood up abruptly, there was a breeze passed the air, I could feel his consciousness swept the area at large.

". . . En's just lost his consciousness!" he reported neutrally; then ran to the museum by himself.

I called Wu Fei, "Where is he?"

"The bug said he's still inside; but he's just moving up and down the floors for some time now...! Wait there!" Wu Fei said fast and cut it.

I narrowed my eyes; if someone carried the bug around the museum for some time, feigning it to be Duo's movement, and then tossed it in the lift, then that meant... I gritted my teeth when Soleil ran back at me with a big paper bag in his hands.

"Father's clothes; and En's, too...!" he reported.

I stared angrily at the content; not just their shoes, they even stripped them of their hair-bands.

I messed up...!

The yellow rose on top of the bag content mocked me with its existence.

A pest control van screeched to stop by the side of the sidewalk; "Get in...!" Wu Fei said as he slid the door open. I got in briskly.

"Red." I greeted my partner on the wheel.

"I already sent someone to check with the guys; we'll chase the truck that just came out from the museum's storage for now. It's a blind chase, but we got nothing else...!" the man said fast.

"They're just unconscious in the storage room." a calm neutral voice stated.

Redcliff snapped his head behind at Soleil; I too almost forgot he was with me.

"We're already too late; there's nothing in that truck, just some miscellaneous things. They wanted you to chase it." Soleil said matter-of-factly. "Take me to the murder site."

Red hit the brakes as if by reflex.

Wu Fei stared at Soleil, then at me.

"Take us there, Red." I asked.

Red looked like he wanted to ask something for a moment, but drove the car without a word.

* * *

"It must be good to have a mob-boss dote on you...!" Red commented offhandedly. I glanced at him.

The condominium was that _kind_ of luxurious, but I didn't think it was something anyone could enjoy; perhaps because I thought of all these things as just shackles. The more luxurious they were, the heavier the shackles were.

Soleil was standing by the side of the human-shaped white-tape by the blotchy thick carpet; brushing the surface of the pelt with the ends of his bare fingers.

"You sure he could do that?" Red arched a brow. Soleil glanced at the man and walked over to him; showing his palm vertically in front of the man's face. Red frowned examining the hand; his brows shot up when the usual lines and ridges on the surface of his hand suddenly fused in and made it like a smooth rubber-glove's surface.

"...freaky!" he commented reflexively; and added, "No hard-feelings."

"None." Soleil answered.

"We're lucky your killer and the victim were both on the pelt carpet. I could get as much static electricity from the surface." he reported as he scanned the pelt surface with his palm.

"Your victim thought 'I could finally stop', he was relieved when facing the killer."

"He knew the killer?" I asked flatly.

"No recognition aside that he was anticipating it to come to him." Soleil frowned.

"It wasn't Duo." I stated.

"It wasn't Father." Soleil repeated. Red arched his left brow at that, staring at Wu Fei knowing I was ignoring him; Wu Fei was just arching his shoulders.

"The killer stood here." Soleil said when he got about two meters away from the white-tape on the carpet. "I've never met this person before."

I frowned at him.

"Not one of the people I saw when I followed Father following that crime-lord and the victim." Soleil translated.

He stood up. "Do you still have the yellow rose petals the killer scattered down?" he asked Wu Fei.

"How do you know they were scattered?" Wu Fei asked reflexively, probably just testing.

"The killer plucked them out from a single rose here after shooting the victim. I don't think the killer used bare hands doing it, but a living tissue should have enough energy to recognize something..." Soleil sounded somewhat gloomy at the end; perhaps he was skeptical he'd find something useful.

"They're in the Preventer's evidence storage." I said heading to the door of the condo, my mind felt numb and I could just focus on the path I was in, refusing to think about the bad things that could be happening to Duo, or En; if it would turn out to be the worst, wouldn't that be the most cruel irony that Fates could plot for us? Right after Duo had accepted me...

And I was the one nearing end, though the earth's fate should face its determining event before mine coming; but even without all of those, we could just lose our important people because of something unseen...?

_Life is cruel, Lad_... Red Smiley used to say to me, with shaking old voice; but he always said it with a smile I thought he'd enjoyed its cruelty. Perhaps it was because he could do nothing else but smile.

. . . _Old-man, help me_; my heart prayed. He's the only one who didn't judge me even when I didn't carry on with what I was sent here for; and always keeping his one-eye looking out for me. He was my 'father'...

* * *

_saru's note:_  
1. it's different with many cellphone types, so saru just used saru's cellphone type; to some of you, good readers, that type might be outdated, though... haha.

**thanx for reading**


	14. Ch14: if every despair leads to you

**The future never lies 'gaku 11 dec, 11**

**Disclaimer: **_G-boys are not saru's…too bad_

**Warning: **_vague AU, imps, OOC…some darker things coming ahead_

_character's POV _

**14. ...if every despair leads to you, ...then I...**

"Agent Yuy, you can't contaminate the evidence...!", the man in charge of the evidence room said with a pale face.

_Don't I know that_; my mind complained. "I'm not." I said with finality.

Soleil had a level face, but I could see his disappointment clearly. "The killer wore glove."

I thought so.

He put the yellow rose petals back into the vacuum plastic and sealed it.

"We're still discussing with the Police on who's going to be in charge with the case...!" the man said worriedly.

I arched a brow.

"Shouldn't it be _their_ case, in the first place?"

"Well..." the man put the plastic bags into the box again and put it back in the shelves; "I don't know the details, but..." he looked at me from the end of his eyes, "I heard there was some casualties on our side related to that _Big-Boss_ guy before this; so Lady Une specifically had been fighting for the right to this case...!"

"The Police didn't let it go?", though I already know the reason.

"Since this case and those casualties cases happened in their jurisdiction; if it didn't turn out to be at least joined investigation, you know how it would look like if it happens to leak to the media...!" the man smiled his worried face.

"It would look like the Police Department had anything to do with those cases."

The man nodded, "Although it's not my place to say whether they have rats inside or not, or maybe we do, or just everything has rats inside..." he arched his shoulders, trying to make it as a joke, "...I'd say, that's internal business and should be investigated internally; so I didn't understand myself why they couldn't just make a joined investigation with us instead of fighting over it. That's almost making it too obvious, isn't it?"

I stared the man levelly; weren't we just pointing fingers at each other and didn't make any progress, then? I remembered the condo had the police lines, but there was no one guarding the entrance; perhaps everyone just observing who went in and out of the place and just wildly connect them with the case?

I frowned in objection.

Wouldn't they make me the first in the list after Duo? If they had the information about Duo's disappearance too, then...-

I cut my line of thought; this shouldn't be the place to think. "Thank-you; I owe you again, Uncle Dane...!" I said and walked to the door.

"I hope you get it right...!" the man said to my back. I waved at him passed my shoulder; he was always a nice man and everyone called him uncle.

Soleil followed me close behind, I couldn't hear his footsteps but I felt his presence.

"Would they have some evidence too?" he asked softly.

"If we're still fighting over the case; I don't want to imagine that we're fighting over the evidence too...!" I frowned with a sweatdrop. "You suspect something? You said 'glove' not 'gloves'..."

The boy chased me to walk side by side; he looked up and stared at my eyes directly, and nodded.

"So, one hand wore glove, one hand held the gun, one hand plucked the petals, which means one hand held the rose stem?" I had to figure out the sequence, or else someone would think I was talking about a four-armed Deva. (1)

If the gloved hand held the gun, the killer must have pulled it from the holster, possibly the one hidden under the cloth (I imagined a jacket for now); then wouldn't the rose too was pulled out from some place?

"The killer... brought the rose with them, or it was from inside the scene?" I asked.

Soleil blinked; something in his large eyes brightened, but almost immediately dimmed out again. "It was from the vase near the window of the bedroom; I traced some water drops from there to the shooting scene."

"That meant it was someone the victim knew? Or it just meant that the killer could get in whenever-wherever they wanted to?" I frowned deeper, I didn't want to jump into conclusions, but this was a wild goose chase.

_Wait a minute_; I stopped walking. _Near the window?_

"The vase... did it visible from outside? Say like, from another building...?"

"Most likely..." Soleil answered half-caringly.

I watched the boy's back getting further from me for a couple of seconds, and chased him. "You're saying... the victim was inviting the killer to target him?" Soleil did say the victim was anticipating it to come.

Soleil silenced for some breaths span; "...we are looking for the murderer, aren't we, Toucchama?"

I silenced; so that's right, Soleil probably didn't want to disturb the deceased's reasons for now.

"We didn't find the rose stem at the scene. The police were already there when our men arrived; do you think they took it?" I asked. "Or the killer has it?"

"What do you think?" Soleil smiled a little at me.

One glove, one gun, one hand plucking the rose; if the killer brought the stem with them then it must be because they couldn't leave the thing behind at the scene, may be it could blow their identity.

"...the killer bit the stem when they pluck it?"

Soleil snickered softly. "It's kind of romantic, isn't it?" But the cold tone he'd said it in wasn't at all amused.

We didn't talk again after that; by the time we reached Wu Fei's waiting car in the parking lot, I was already deep in my own thought. A little hope flared in my heart, if the killer (presumably who had Duo and En) didn't pluck the yellow rose we found with their clothes, then I dared hope that they're still alive... for whatever reason...

But the fact that they only left one rose bugged me; if the culprit had already prepared the rose with them, then it meant that the target was Duo alone... we shouldn't have let En tagged along with Duo unguarded. I should have been the one guarding Duo just like Wu Fei and I planned. I thank God that the other agents didn't fall as casualties, if I remembered what Uncle Dane said in the evidence room.

". . . I'm sorry." I barely realized saying it out.

My mind's in a black hole; I should have just toughened it up for a little while, these were only minor grazed wounds, anyway. I had my brew like yesterday, so my body should be functioning well if not perfect... _after_ it kicked in... -Damnit!

"Heero..." Wu Fei called out softly from behind the wheel; "We're going to find Duo... and the boy too. Don't make that face...!"

I blinked and pulled my mind to the reality; and glanced at the side mirror, not really eager to see what face I made by then, but felt ashamed by the pathetic face I saw there.

"Sorry..." I mumbled, staring blindly at the dashboard.

I felt Wu Fei's eyes on me several times after that, I knew he was concerned by the un-Heero-ishness I did for the past days; I couldn't blame him, or Duo, or the others, for finding something wrong with me while I tried so hard hiding it; I guess I was clear enough for everyone to see through for a long time now.

* * *

"The Police insisted that they didn't take anything from the scene yet...!" Red took a big bite on his burger; "Hmm-!" he swallowed a little to capacitate his mouth to speak, "...even if they did, they wouldn't tell us, Lad...!" he waved his unoccupied hand back at me.

I frowned at the seat's back, I suspected that much. "So, who's officially handling the case as of now?" I asked with a little agitated tone; the not-progressing situation disturbed me.

"You know what? The Captain said they're working on their own lead and we should do the same...!" Red took a bite again after saying that.

"Is that even alright?" Wu Fei quipped from the driver's seat, sipping his coffee cup.

"Hm, something told me that they didn't believe in us when I spoke to the man..." Red arched his shoulder. "We're not in a contest so I guessed it's all we could do for now!" he crumpled the burger's wrapping and threw it into the trash can sitting outside the car.

"And you thought they took what from the scene?" Red turned back to see our faces behind his seat.

"Not really, I just wanted to ask whether they found the rose stem at the scene or not." I answered; "...or perhaps near the scene. Or whether anyone searching for it at all..."

Redcliff smirked at my words. "The killer might have taken it back as a memento, for all I know...!"

"Then it's a dead end." I summed it up. So, let's forget about the saliva that the murderer _probably_ left on the stem to give us a lead... wouldn't that be the reason for that-thing's not being in the crime scene, in the first place?

Red frowned at my light tone. "Aren't you bothered by that?"

"We didn't think Duo keep the files or lists of clients, especially ones he deemed _that_ dangerous; ...but knowing him, he must have kept a coded record somewhere." Wu Fei said and then stared at me. "You should know such place to look for it, right?"

I blinked.

_And what if I didn't know such place where he usually hid such a thing?_ I stared back at him levelly.

"Shouldn't you try his office first?" I tried, convincing myself that I didn't say it with a pout.

"The computer's clean. Someone had tampered with it before us...! Like literally CLEAN!" Red arched his thick brows at me. I had a suspicion on who'd done it; that everpresent smile which I didn't want to recall right now...

"Red..." I started; "Do you know about the casualties on our side concerning any case with the _Big-Boss_?"

Redcliff's face stared at me neutrally, urging me to add more.

"Uncle Dane said we're fighting for this case with the Police because of it." I summed.

"Casualties? I've never heard of it...!" Red glanced at somewhere else and back at me, his brows arched; "...you mean the missing agents?" he almost brightened but worried at the same time.

"There were missing agents?" Wu Fei asked in alarm.

Red slapped his forehead; "Of course! That case...!"

"After the war ended and when the Preventer was just given the authority to deal with any threat to the global peace; our agents found some leads to an international arms dealer. They never found any usable evidences, but the informants we'd used gone missing one by one. After that, some of our agents disappeared too." Red frowned in distaste.

"What about the Police?" Wu Fei asked.

Red snorted his sigh; somehow I knew what he was going to say. "Their guys had gone missing, too...!"

Wu Fei and I stared at each other. "We've never heard of it!" Wu Fei objected.

"That's because you two haven't signed in yet...!" Red rested his head on the seat's head heavily. "And besides, something _BIG_ cut the people's euphoria to that case after all leads turned out to be dead ends!" he closed his eyes.

"When?" I asked; he's already used to the minimalism of my grammatical system.

". . . before the _Mariemeia incident_." he said with finality.

"Wait; nobody touched the case after it ends?" Wu Fei asked with dissatisfied frown.

Red arched his shoulders; "The main suspect died in a freak car accident, and the weapon trade's movement seemed to stop. We have no case left...!"

"What about 'missing person' cases, then...?" Wu Fei stared at Redcliff with a deeper dissatisfied frown. I silenced.

"That's NOT in our jurisdiction...! ..._they_ said! Hell, I didn't know who's in it, but even Our Lady couldn't do much about it!" Red acted like he didn't care, but his deep frown showed the contrary; ". . . You want to dig it?" Red asked eventually with an evil grin. "But I think it would be labeled as 'if you messed up, the Agency will deny every connection with you'-kind of thing...!"

Wu Fei turned at me.

"...The Captain said we should follow our own lead...!" I answered them; that should've been the cue, right? "I'll follow Duo's breadcrumbs; inform me if you find anything!" I said and opened the car's door. Soleil followed me out without a word. "Don't go missing in the process...!" I said as an afterthought through the car window, then walked away.

* * *

The alley of our rendezvous point with Red, near the Police Station, was facing a busy street; there was a big supermarket building not too far from there. I was thinking about the thing that Red told me; why would Mercury wiped Duo's computer clean? It didn't make sense.

. . . Unless, he wanted to wipe Duo's existence-records in the process. That just led me to another question of 'why'.

I pretended I didn't think about the possibilities that he was breaking in into Duo's office just to get me. That line of thought would make me feel like I was of such importance... Or else...

Mercury did it for someone's important to him?

Like who?

A shiver ran up my spine and burnt my nape; I reflexively rubbed the back of my neck. No, I didn't want to think that he could just make Duo disappear and wash our memories and make us forgetting about him...!

-Thinking about forgetting something... I didn't do _that_, right...?

I didn't try to call Duo's cell back after Soleil found the paper bag filled with their clothes and shoes and...- that's because...

Duo's cell was dead between the folded clothes.

"Something in your mind, Toucchama?" Soleil asked at my side. I glanced at him and just realized I've forgotten how long we've been standing there after Wu Fei's car gone from the alley.

"...can you sense... Duo's SIM card...?" I asked somehow with uncertainty. Soleil blinked at me.

"SIM card?" he asked back.

"Duo's cellphone was turned off in the paper bag with his clothes; if the abductors did it, I think they might just crush it to incapacitate it and took the SIM card to further investigate his contacts, for whatever reason they took him for; it's faster that way." I explained, putting myself align with the abductors' mind. "Duo texted me; if only he had a chance... I really hope he did; then probably... Duo himself took the SIM card out and slipped it into his abductor's clothes or gears, in hope we could track it and find some clues to his whereabouts..."

"So this is personal, Toucchama...?" Soleil asked again, already grasping my thoughts. Duo's breadcrumbs... should be for me alone to find.

I stared the boy for a couple of seconds; "I don't want to make other people missing...!" I reasoned, more like to myself. "Besides, it's faster than to go back and forth the HQ and crime scenes to ask someone to triangulate it..." -_Some people used phones for long distance communication, that's why they invented it in the first place_; I heard a small voice in my mind jeered at the lame excuse. Well, I didn't want to let the people in the Preventer's lab knew what I was searching for, and despite I could use my laptop to find it myself I just thought asking Soleil should be faster... or perhaps I just wanted to know his real ability...

So I wanted to make it personal.

". . . it's a BIG city." Soleil said after examining me. "Perhaps if you take me to a higher place I could get better rebound from the SIM card..."

I nodded and walked towards the busy street. Soleil followed me like before.

". . . can't you sense such a thing yourself?" he finally asked; I've waited for him to ask that outright.

"I wasn't made for such purpose." I answered levelly, I hated to make it sound like I was just a tool; but I was...

"So what can you do? It's a miracle that you stopped the war at all...!" he commented.

"A war will stop once the opposing parties don't have anything to be sacrificed anymore..." I tried; "Like something to fight for... or something to fight with... or just something to fight about. After they have nothing they'd just gather everything and later use 'em to start another war. It's just that kind of cycle... human's life is."

"Can't you just step aside and watch from outside the cycle? You're not human to begin with..." Soleil said offhandedly.

I stopped and turned a smile at him; ". . . you want me to become something like Mercury?"

"Hmmm..." Soleil hummed when we started walking again; "Mercury isn't bad..." he started, "...if you see him from his point-of-view; he just something that doesn't change his objective... even for anything."

"Something that doesn't change would either destroy itself or destroy its surroundings..." I commented, "In his case I guess it's the later...!" -_Or I just wanted him to be the adversary_.

We stopped talking as we entered the crowded lift of the supermarket; my breaths were heavy as I climbed the stairs to the roof, although it was only a short climb. I acted like it wasn't a thing to be alarmed for, and Soleil let me be.

My throat was burning and my body trembled slightly; though I refused to admit that my knees buckled on me a few times back there. I caught up to Soleil standing on the middle of the roof after some times; he looked almost doll-looking while closing his eyes with apathetic face like that.

"How long does it take-...?" I stopped midway when he turned his face at me; he already got the result, he was just doubting my durability.

"You can leave the rest to me." he said levelly, without emotion.

"Do you really think I'd say yes to that?" I asked with finality.

* * *

This time Soleil led and I followed. The lift dinged and we walked out along with the crowd; I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of people around me and I didn't realize exactly when did he take my left arm and pulled me along.

"...you're in the way...!" he criticized softly. I snorted at him but didn't argue. I knew I slowed him down; because I didn't sure I want him to move around in his own pace.

Soleil stopped a taxi and we got in, I sighed deeply as I felt a soft seat behind my back and took the time to control my breathing again. I heard him said an office building's name downtown to the driver. I didn't ask where we're going.

"...It'd be more convenient if you didn't have to walk everywhere." he commented. "Father has a bike."

I stared him from the end of my eyes; "You want me to drive a car?" I already had Red to drive me around mission-related places.

"Fei-ji-chan got a car." he added.

"You want me to explain my age to the driver license management?"

"How old are you, honestly?" Soleil asked gazing outside the window. I knew he knew how old technically I was, he just wanted me to admit it out loud.

". . . I'm mentally 17, going to be mentally 18!" I dared him. He chuckled without looking at me. The driver glanced at us from the rearview mirror.

* * *

The building we entered was a mixed-offices building that was rented for business. I glanced at the floor list and read something ranged from 'florist' to 'financial analyst' to 'pet consultant' to even 'recreational therapist'. A little voice in my head already complained that I didn't want to have a wild goose-chase in such a wide-ranged fields.

"Wait." Soleil pulled my jacket when I reflexively going to go into the opened lift along with the waiting crowd. There were 3 lifts and we waited between the second and the third; the earlier was going down, and the third was pausing at the 4th floor.

A middle aged woman with a chihuahua in her arms waited beside us and smiled at Soleil, my eyes wandered at the trembling dog in her arms pulled its ears behind as it watched the boy with wide eyes; perhaps animals could sniff it that he wasn't ordinary.

The lift dinged and the door slid opened; I was about to get worried about the dog and how the boy stared back at it when the woman suddenly screamed.

I blinked at the sight in the second lift, a man was shot dead with his cellphone still blinking near his limp hand on the floor, the body was slumped on the floor and wall, facing the door, fresh blood was splattered on the wall and dripping from the hole on his forehead; I glanced up and saw a camera on the compartment ceiling...

I could still feel the dead man's cooling body temperature lingered on the air.

"Let's go...!" Soleil pulled me into the third lift when it's opened while people gathered around the second lift to see what happened. I figured the camera would only show a silencer's barrel stuck between the lift doors right before it closed; if it was a professional's work.

But there was no yellow rose lying around...

"Was that man connected with the case?" I had to ask.

"Not anymore." The way Soleil answered me somehow gave me a chill.

"Where are we going?"

"The place he was last exited before entering the lift." Soleil punched the number panel.

We stopped on the 14th floor, he walked with natural easiness as if we belonged there and he opened a door faking gesture like he opened it with a key first; I glanced at the intersection ahead and found a camera too.

"Come on in, Toucchama." he said as the door opened.

"This floor looked more like a hotel or an apartment..." I commented offhandedly swiping the room with my eyes.

"It's the studio-type of rented office; you even have kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom like the usual apartment has..." Soleil said while strolling to the bathroom.

I stared at the window, and the floor in front of it; there's definitely someone shot there, while looking out and... I saw the dents on the carpet where the tripod was placed; a sniper's rifle was there before. The windowsill was cleaned; I didn't think the rifle was yet fired. All evidences were already wiped clean, but my eyes could see the leftover still.

The park was just outside this-side of the building.

"...it even have a nice view of the park, it feels more domestic than for business-..." Soleil's words stopped when he saw I was standing by the window and looking out to the park.

"Did you find anything in the other rooms?" I asked flatly. Somehow I felt betrayed...

"I found father's SIM card burnt on the stove..." he refined his tone, eyeing me oddly. I stared him back; he was leading me to that place, but I still caught in his pace. It felt like he's taking Duo away from me...

"Toucchama...?" he asked with uncertain tone. "...if... you finished here, can we go somewhere that has an aid kit ready? I'll change the bandages before Fei-ji-chan notices it..." he tried; but I thought they all knew why I wore a black jacket and black pants today.

* * *

Wu Fei knocked and entered when the door slid open automatically.

"I thought you haven't poured hot water into your instant noodles yet, so I came with some real food, Heero...!" was his greeting. I half ignored him as he was putting the plastic bag on the table and plopped down on the chair.

"You found something?" he asked. He knew when I used the Preventer's 'hotel room' that meant I was so deep into my chase that I didn't bother to go home. Anyway, home was where Duo should be there whining about the broken vase or corny bedcover; which currently missing a Duo right now.

"...Heero..." I heard a warning in his tone; "...EAT!" he shoved the Chinese food packet onto my laps. I stopped typing and frowned at the offensive delicious-smelling packet sitting on my laptop's keyboard.

"So, found any useful leads?" Wu Fei repeated munching on a meat bun.

"All dead." I answered offhandedly, using my left hand to hold the chopsticks; I didn't want to say it out loud that I thought somehow Soleil got them to die before we arrived at their places.

Wu Fei's eyes glanced at the boy's innocent face, balled at the end of the bed blissfully sleeping; his facing me half hidden by his bent arms.

No; I didn't want to think that the boy probably thought he could eliminate every perpetrator we got a lead to and took into mind's peace that at the end of the lining dead-bodies we'd find Duo and his brother.

. . . it's because he implied it from the beginning of this ordeal that he'd do exactly that, that I...

Didn't he want to do it so that Duo _wouldn't_ be missing...?

"What time is it?" I asked just so I could stray my mind off the thought.

"Midnight." Wu Fei provided, "I heard you found a lot of fresh dead bodies today...?"

I took the hot tea cup he offered, and sipped. "Four." I said; "They either killed themselves or got killed before we arrived at their places. It's like playing tag today..." I put the cup on the bedside table. "I didn't feel like it was a game, though...!" I complained neutrally.

Wu Fei finished his meat bun and gulped his tea. After putting away the trash, he walked to the bed and felt my neck with a hand. "Your fever's up; you should be resting...!" he criticized with a frown.

I frowned back at him, still chewing my food and all. He smirked at the cooling-patch plastered on my forehead that Soleil had insisted to put on me after we arrived here; even before he changed the bandages, too.

"I see you found yourself an effective nurse, though..." he joked, I glared.

"...sorry..." I heard him sighing; "I said you could let others do your job when you're sick or wounded, but I was proven unreliable."

I blinked at him.

"...stop that; it's creepy. You're all creeping me out today!" I criticized. Wu Fei humph-ed and flicked his finger at my bangs (I didn't think he'd dare doing that to my forehead).

"I'll inform you when I find something useful! I'm sleeping next door..." he started walking to the door; "Oh, and your ossan-partner bought some sweets for Soleil there." he cued to the paper bag in the plastic on the table; I was about to wonder what it was.

I guessed Red liked children, I was vaguely aware that he sometime treated me like one.

The door swished closed; and a pair of large eyes were staring at me from the end of the bed. _You're really creeping me out today...!_ I heard a small voice in my head complained; I pointed the table with the chopsticks. "You got present...!"

Soleil sat up and eyed me distractedly while chewing whatever sweets he found in the bag. I frowned out my objection to my laptop screen and pretending I kept my neutral face.

...he'd freak me out already if I were Duo.

* * *

"_...What's this? Still rejecting, aren't you?" his smile got wider, an amazed chuckle. "Just give up with that pride already... Can't you see yourself right now? You're shamelessly clinging to me while thinking of __**him**__, hu?"_

_It felt like hell..._

I woke up with a gasp.

The white familiar ceiling greeted my vision, I was lying on a bed; and for some reason my body felt numb.

Sigh- "...finally you're awake...!"

I knew that childish voice... somewhere from _his_ childhood time...

"Toucchama? Are you in the present now...?"

A wet cloth placed on my forehead and I jumped by the cold.

No... it's not _him_... This...

". . . Soleil...?"

A snort. "You should've just rested since the other day... Now it backfired times stronger. Couldn't you have faith in your colleagues to do your work...?" There's a pout in his tone.

And my mind added an unbidden 'and if we didn't go out then Duo and En wouldn't be kidnapped'.

". . . how long had I slept?"

"Hmph. How long should it be before the brew taken effect?"

I stared the ceiling to focus my mind; something felt amiss. And I knew this was not the ceiling of our bedroom, since our bedroom should be in a loft and the slanted-...

"Answer me." I demanded flatly.

Soleil took some pause before answering.

"28 hours 48 minutes-"

A loud slap sound; and I gritted my teeth when my head hit the pillow back. My forehead was stinging.

"And what are you going to do in that condition, may I ask?" Soleil's voice had a stern edge in it; I knew to some point he should be angry with me. "Now... your answer, Toucchama?"

I took some time to collect myself; the room was spinning, and it had nothing to do with how much force Soleil had used to put me down again. Suddenly springing to sit up like that might just be a bad idea after all... If Soleil hadn't pushed me back to the bed then I might just ungracefully fall to the floor instantly as I straighten up; he might have saved my face for that.

The silence told me that he was patient enough waiting for my answer.

I felt the guilt biting at my conscience again... to think about this matter...

"Usually it'd take effect in the span of 12-24 hours." I wasn't surprised when my voice didn't betray me. Or did it already betray my humanity? -if I had one from the beginning.

"This anomaly... had anything to do with Mercury?" Soleil asked with a straight face; for some reason I didn't feel as ashamed as I thought I would.

"Hn."

I heard him sighed out a deep breath; and he sat on the bed beside me, one leg bent in a relaxed pose. "Did he say about this anomaly beforehand?"

I stared him staring me.

"He only said he'd give me three times of what I had."

"Hm." he put his hand on his chin; "Should we conclude that it would take three times span of time too before the brew take effect?"

I didn't know the answer to that. But if in the mean time, for the sake of having three times of the life I got left, in order to be with Duo three times longer than what I deserved, I lose Duo in the wait... wouldn't it be too ironic?

No.

Cruel.

Which I had forgotten that Mercury seemed to be the type to be merciless when he got jealous... And he didn't like the fact that I attached myself to Duo, right?

But using 'time'; as in the right opportunity and my helplessness to do anything in this condition... without even using his own hands to do the job...! It's way beyond cunning. But I knew he wouldn't even care if I hold a grudge on him; he'd just take it as a pleasure, because he knew I knew the fact that I won't have any reason to say that it's his fault right to his face... if anything, it'd be _my_ fault. So he liked to toy with his preys... what a too-much-free-time type of a predator!

". . . how did you know _it_?"

Soleil took another washcloth and dabbed at my sweaty neck.

"...back at Lady Une's office, when everyone passed out and you hurt your hand..." for some reason I knew he's purposely not meeting my eyes when elaborating this. "Before I took En out of the building, I thought I'd do you a favor healing your fractured bones..."

"I got bone fractures?"

The surprise tone I said it may have been amusing since he glanced at my face and chuckled genuinely. "Yes. You gripped your gun as hard as you could when you tried to shoot at Mercury, remember?"

I stared him in silence. Something like that might have happened, but my memory was fuzzy about the real happening of that day.

"So I phased-in with you." Soleil averted his gaze from me again.

I waited but he didn't add anything more.

"...what's that? Like taking control of-?"

"No. Not that much...!" he cut me. "Phasing-in is like being aware of something."

"...aware?"

"I phased-in with your body meant that I was being aware of your body." He took a pause to see if I'd comment more, but I was waiting for his explanation so he continued. "It just meant that I became aware of your physical material; every layer, every vein, every cell... everything that compose your body to function. I just tried to push your healing ability faster to heal your wounds, honestly..."

He averted his eyes again. ". . . I didn't mean to be aware of anything beyond that." He sounded almost guilty- no, perhaps it was disappointment.

"You're disappointed that I wasn't the real-"

"It was a shock...!" Soleil admitted fast; "But I..." he looked troubled and stared down at his hands. "A part of me was happy that I felt a familiar vibration in you; that I wasn't alone...!"

He took a deep breath. ". . . but that means . . ."

"En is alone?"

He looked me straight in the eyes, looking sad and burdened; and nodded once.

"Is everyone here... not counted as _anyone_...?" Wasn't that their reason to go back in time? "Or just any human wouldn't cut it...?"

"You'd want to be related to someone...!" Soleil said almost barking it out. "That's what being human is about...! Birds know how to fly because the birds before them were flying! What makes us human, is because we're related to human! It's fake and sounds stupid, but aren't we allowed such illusion? WE'RE NOT HUMANS TO BEGIN WITH-...!"

I put a hand on his head; and he stopped abruptly, realizing that he was crying and hastily wiped his tears with his hands but still refusing to meet my eyes. It was shame; and it was painful to feel the shame for such fact. I silenced and idly stroked his downcast head; waiting for him to realize about the fact that that's exactly what I felt; he took the words out of my mouth. There's no way I wouldn't understand such yearning; I was alone in this-world.

Created to be alone.

To die alone.

A part of me, which was already tired of being afraid for waiting the moment when Duo finds out the truth about _his Heero_, knowing that it was inevitable, or that dying while carrying that truth to the grave was even more hurting... was exulted when the boys came; for knowing that at last I wouldn't be alone in this world anymore. Even knowing that they could be the ones giving away _my truth_, or my lies; I still felt happy that I'd have some ones I could connect with... not about this-world, but about the world beyond this, and the sufferings we faced there, the reason why we were created at all. About the things that the others would only heard as stories but what we knew as facts, the facts that were written in our genes. Someone to relate with eventhough we're nothing to each other. Just someone not from this-world...

But to them I was a disappointment, yes...?

Neither of you expected _me_ being here, did you? Not even Mercury saw it coming, hu? A little part of me found it funny... like winning the race against the-future that was hunting me down...

"Sorry...!" Soleil threw himself onto me and hugged me tightly. "Sorry, Tou-san; I'm sorry...! I'm sorry, I'm really sorry...!"

. . . . . . someone who could understand my feelings without me needing to show it.

"What are you crying about?" I asked him levelly; my voice didn't betray my feelings, I've already had too much experience keeping it hidden.

Soleil didn't budge from his dock on my chest; I wonder if he felt he's anchored himself to a reality when he hugged me. _Any_ reality.

"So what do you mean with 'familiar vibration' in me?" It's not just a diverting question, I was really curious about that... if such simple two words could blow up my cover as easily as saying those two words aloud, surely I'd want to know, for I didn't even realize I had such thing in me.

"Like body odor? They said one's self wouldn't smell their own scent...?"

"Pfhhuu... hahahahahahahaa...!" Soleil laughed on my chest, I could feel his laughter reverberated my heart; it's a nice feeling. It's easy if he's so much like Duo, I knew which button to push in which condition. "What's that? Am I that much a-beast to you that I'd be the type to familiarize others with scents...?"

_Well, you do have much superior senses; so why not...?_ I said with my gaze and Soleil's laughter subsided into light chuckles countering my eyes.

His eyes softened when his laughter stopped into a smile, and turned a light prussian color. At that time I was aware that when he saw me through 'my'-eyes meant that he could see the whole of me, inside out; and a part of me suddenly realized just how frightening the creature in front me was. But I pushed that feeling deeper and hoped that he didn't see it.

"No, Toucchama...!" he snorted, "I couldn't describe it, but probably it's because you're not _equipped_ to sense that vibration?"

And don't you start make me feel like I was an outdated _tool _being compared to a more advanced one...!

"Mercury could?" I asked flatly.

"Hm." he nodded.

"En?"

He paused and stared deeply into my eyes. Making a resigned smile he answered, "Probably. I'm the one outdated compared to him, so I couldn't be aware of what he's aware or not..."

"So what kind of vibration?" I asked again.

His brows arched up and he thought for awhile, "May beee... something like when you heard a refrigerator whirring or a CPU; that when you hear the sound without actually seeing the machines you'd recognize it as which...?" he tried.

"And what kind of whirring my body is making...?" I get impatient and growled with a scowl. Soleil chuckled at that.

He had his hands folded in ease on my chest now and putting his chin on them. "Some-whirring like what my body makes." he said with a winning smile.

"Mercury's making a different whirring, though..." he added arching one shoulder. "And En's not making any. In a sense Mercury probably didn't want En because of that."

So, Mercury and Soleil were kind of a different-type of the same color, while En wasn't their kind; my mind concluded. But hadn't they said it at one time before this...? Or had they not?

"So, when are you going to let me up to search for Duo and your brother?" I asked letting annoyance tinted my voice, knowing that Soleil had cunningly confined me down to the bed with his own body in between our conversation.

"Can you feel your toes yet?" he asked back with an amused testing smile.

I wanted to object outright but realized he knew what my body could and couldn't do better than myself at the moment. Damn that phase-in ability or whatever...!

...he's enjoying this; he's sure to be a type of Mercury's variety...!

". . . . . . Duo is-...!"

"Father's with En...!" he cut calmly.

"That's even more alarming-...!"

"I know!" he smiled wider, "It felt good that you're worrying about us, Toucchama...!"

I narrowed my eyes at his pleased face. Damn, he's toying with me...! -my mind objected but I couldn't get away even if I wanted to.

I snorted. "Okay; so phase-in with me and make me good enough to function properly...!"

"Hmmm. No, I can't pass Mercury in that level. He's already done something to your body, and if I were to meddle while it was still undergoing some process, I'd be just damaging you. Permanently, perhaps...!" he said as if we're talking about computers or toasters, whichever burn a CD or bread faster would be the winner. Somehow I got the feeling that he was the computer and I was the toaster...

I frowned in dissatisfaction.

"It's alright. I got some leads and we could get to the end when you're fit enough. Your bleeding had just stopped recently too, they'll start again if you move too much. You wouldn't want to alarm Fei-ji-chan or anyone at this point, right?"

And damn, he won...!

I knew I was pouting... I couldn't help it for being a toaster...!

Tsk!

* * *

I stared at the bizarre scene feeling like I hadn't woken up at all.

I was hoping it was a dream- ...no. My mind said it wasn't a dream... but my instinct told me to _wake up _and flee this scene.

And I...

...never felt this numb before in my whole short life...

* * *

"...Heero!" I knew that voice.

"Hey! Snap out of it; we need you to focus right now...!" Someone held my shoulders and shook me hard; my instinct told me to brace myself for a head-butt-...

"...Damnit! You're not alone, and all is not lost yet! Focus, Heero!"

. . . instead, I got a strong embrace.

". . . I know . . ." my tongue was still numb and I barely felt it moved, perhaps that's why my voice was so shaky.

"There's no Duo and the boy in there! So that's GOOD...!" I stared at the serious face in front of mine when the strong hands pulled me at arm-length by my shoulders again. "Okay?"

Oh... so it's Wu Fei.

"Okay..."

Though I knew he didn't really know the fact about that statement yet, but I knew he was trying to convince himself too by saying it.

There's no Duo in _there_...

Only lots and lots of yellow rose petals... on pooling rivers of blood; stained by the color... covered by bits and bodies.

The smell was nothing of a battlefield.

The scene of over 40 men cramped in a small closed warehouse and slaughtered each other until no one left standing was... nothing like _my_ battlefield.

I heard some hasty footstep sounds and some retching; I barely recognize the men outside the warehouse, but I know why they're puking their lunches out.

"Damnit! Rookies just stay outside and don't contaminate the scene...!" a man barked behind me. "What are _you_ people doing here...?" came the hostile growl.

"Hey, we're following our leads, okay...!" Red's voice lost its humorous edge.

"Captain, you will need these if you want to go in there." a forensic investigator was handing out rubber boots to authorized people. "Your agents need some, Redcliff?"

"No, May, Thanks. I think we'll let you with the dirty work..." Red's grin was pulled unevenly to one side, "Sorry." he added as an afterthought.

"Your boys need them?" the female investigator asked again, "And please call me Mayfield, or else people would get the wrong idea that we are on first name basis, Red." she added.

"Okay. No, the boys are here just to follow some leads too." a pause; "...which are dead ends, by the looks of it."

"End up dead, you mean. What kind of leads?" a police detective joined them.

"Yellow rose petals, he said."

"Which one of _he_...?" the detective asked, I felt his hawk-gaze on me from behind my back.

"Ha...!" Red snickered cynically; "Like you could handle questioning the _he_ by yourself...!" there was a tint of pride in his tone, and something like fear; probably because Soleil was gazing at them from beside me. Red let his survival instinct do the thinking when it came to Soleil, which was to not cross path with him directly or even get in the boy's way; anyway, the man had survived more wars than me.

"What are you boys talking about? If you're not going to do your work, don't get in other's ways...!" Mayfield shooed the men away; and I felt Soleil's attention tugged at my awareness.

"We should go too, Toucchama. We're done here." I knew he was eyeing everyone visible at the scene; probably at people who were not visible at the area too.

". . . what-" my throat constricted, it hurt to make a voice out; "-did we do here, exactly...?"

Soleil silenced for a moment, I felt him feeling my anger from within me. I wondered if when he phased-in with me he'd left a 'bug' inside... if such was how he and Mercury operated.

"...finding dead bodies." he said levelly. "Why are you angry with me?" the boy was eyeing me oddly now.

I snapped my head at him and my right hand moved on its own, grabbing his left upper arm, feeling the thin crusty skin layer of my wounds broken with the effort. He realized it too and stared at the stinging parts of my hand.

My deeper-mind kept pointing to him when we found yet another dead body in this chase. In a better perspective of myself I knew I was being afraid of him, of what he could do... of what he didn't tell me he could do. I stared him in the eyes and knew my eyes giving me away; if ever, I hate myself for being this helpless, and I didn't want to cling to that boy for when my weaknesses got the better of me. It's just like Mercury said, I was holding on to such useless pride...

But knowing he had more functions compared to a defective me was giving more than fright... It was despair; so thick that it engulfed my whole body like a block of massive concrete, numbing my senses and blinding my awareness. And even in such a shell, he still could see me inside out like I was transparent as glass. My deeper-mind, the part which recognized myself as but a tool, succumbed to the need of power in front of this kind of tool standing doll-like innocent before me with such a grand spectacle... That need of power, I never felt such urge before, even when I was cornered in a fierce battle with no hope to survive; Zero-system had shown me a glimpsed of it once, but my instinct told me to reject it... perhaps because I never faced such power in a substantial degree. And in my darker side I knew it grew to become envy...

I envied this tool having that much of functions.

I envied him...!

I wanted to have power to save my important people too...!

I wanted to become him...

A cool touch soothed my delirious skin... again. My fingers jerked because of the coolness; I didn't remember loosening the grip, but they were held in a smaller grip loosely. The cool touch felt again and again, like being poured by fresh water; washing away the fiery layer on my hand.

I sucked in a deep breath.

My heart rate was way higher than normal... and I just realized that my hearing was deafened.

When my vision cleared again, I was staring at a pair of clearest purple gemstones I'd ever seen. His stare was open and undemanding... though it was from apathy.

"Toucchama...?" he murmured to my fingers.

I felt his lips moved, and that cool touch again.

...he was kissing my hand, over and over. And then I realized that endearing title he used to call me with; it's true that I might be younger than him technically... he knew that, so he was looking out for me from the start... -since when he arrived in our apartment...?

. . . may be he hadn't known it at the time, but a part of him recognized that fact.

"Do you need to rest?" Soleil murmured again; he entwined his fingers between mine gently, and somehow he got two of them between his slightly parted lips; his tongue brushed the tips as he spoke, I could feel the cool moist on my skin.

It took some time for my mind to collect itself.

I just stared him getting intimate with the fingers of my right hand in the open, in such a place reek of blood and innards, in the witness of a lot of police strangers and just downright everyone there.

"Wu Fei..." I heard my own voice called out, it didn't waver; "I need your car."

The keys were thrown at me from somewhere, I caught them midair; Wu Fei was probably got hauled from the scene and was waiting for my move from somewhere behind me.

"The tank's full; there's some provision on the back seat." I heard him said it levelly. Perhaps he was waiting for me to make a move since before I collapsed the other day.

I turned around to the direction of his car, pulling along Soleil as he didn't let go of my fingers. "I don't mind about the condition you return my car later, but at least return it...!" I heard Wu Fei called out before I shut the door; I got the feeling he thought I was going to go terminator with it.

* * *

The floor tiles were of checkered white and black marble.

The walls were high, joined at the ceiling with a pointy curve.

The corridor was long and narrow.

I was trudging to a place where no outsider had returned from alive...

The large door at the end of the corridor was half open; the room was spacious and empty except for a single velvet Boston rocker at the opposing side.

He was waiting for me on his throne. Smiling...

I held back a shiver at how much he reminded me of Mercury.

"What brought you here, Heero Yuy?" the gentle voice asked calmly, almost amusedly.

I didn't mind the greeting and walked towards him. He chuckled when he saw me got nearer.

"Red Smiley's not around anymore... You know you're not welcome here."

Though... if they didn't let me pass through their defenses I wouldn't be here in this place.

I stopped exactly three meters from the rocking chair, I knew because there were three blocks of tile separating my distance and that seat; it had no dais underneath it to be called a throne, but the person sitting on it made the title worth it. The thermometer between the smiling lips moved up and down a little when the silky words flowing out.

"I have a request to you." I said.

He snickered, "And there you go, ignoring my greeting and all and demanding something...?"

"Please..."

He was about to say something, but I beat him to it; falling to my knees and hands, I bent my body forward and bowed my head down. "Whatever business you have with the Big-Boss, please recede and let us handle this. At least until I find Duo...!"

Ren Lei silenced for some moment, I felt his gaze on me. "Whatever issue I have with that man is of no concern to you, Mr. Yuy; does it worth you giving me a dogeza for?"

The rocking chair made soft creaking sounds as it rocked slowly.

"Until I find Duo, you said? What selfishness you dare asked me, Mr. Yuy...!"

I silenced.

"What are you asking of, exactly?" he asked.

"Stop killing every lead I had-..."

"Oh, you mean those incompetent minions...? What it got to do with Mr. Maxwell, I dare ask." his tone was commanding. "What's Mr. Maxwell got to do with me that I'd have to revoke?"

I got no excuse to that question.

"I had agreement with Red Smiley, but I had none with you. As Red Smiley died, the agreement was canceled. Now, give me a reason why I shouldn't deal with you as an intruder."

"Please revoke your men until I get Duo back." I ignored his questions, since I didn't have any answer that would be satisfactorily to him. "Give me a deadline, a condition; I don't care."

I slowly lifted my head. "I don't have anything worth your question; but this is my reason: if even the slightest damage to his manpower by your men cause any harm to Duo while he's in their hands; I won't hesitate to retaliate to you too, Ren Lei... whoever you are."

There was a glint in his eyes when he countered my gaze, something like excitement.

"How insolent. You think you can threaten me while begging for my mercy?" he was grinning with exhilaration for a moment, but his face turned mask-like the next second.

". . . so here you are. I was almost sure you didn't want me to find you back there...!"

That level childish voice. Soleil!

And I've told him to wait in the car too...!

A shift in the air, and I knew Ren Lei's guards already entered the room from their hiding places, with weapons in arms. The tension stilled me and there was something flashed in my mind for a millisecond before I centered my senses... something like 'bloodbath'.

There was a long pause in that silence.

Something had to move, my mind mocked me.

The pause dragged on and it's taken too long. I had to do something before anything happened...!

"Hello...!" the level greeting broke the silence; I turned my head and saw him standing calmly having both hands in the front pocket of his sleeveless hoodie, looking behind at the many armed bodyguards having their weapons raised... they're frozen like they're seeing a ghost. I knew why; that my mind wasn't as shocked as it should've when the boys materialized before me the first time.

Their Ren Lei.

The boys' Mercury...

And this boy himself; weren't they the same...?

At least I've seen their Ren Lei once before; so that strange feelings when I saw the boys in our apartment was... something like _déjà vu_-kind-of-thing... was that... that-vibration that Soleil had mentioned?

As expected, Soleil didn't even bother to mind them; he walked sedately towards the throne while eyeing the room detail. The hemispherical roof must have given him some awe as he parted his lips slightly, almost making a smile.

". . . . your dome's way neater than mine..." he commented off-handedly. "You. . ." he turned his face from the ceiling and stared at Ren Lei, ". . . are you waiting for Mercury?"

My worries just went down below frozen-level, I sweat-dropped and held the urge to make a face-palm; this kid and that Mercury... they only concerned with their own interest disregarding other's matters, didn't they?

"Is that why you have that thermometer in your mouth? Is that supposed to be a white-flag or something? Don't you think it's lame? He won't find it amusing in the slightest. The fact that you're here might have earn his glance for a second, but he won't care beyond that, you know." Soleil said almost childishly with his usual level tone... -apathetic tone.

"You damn brat, how dare youuu- ...!"

The unison raged yells were cut off when Ren Lei stood up, leaving the rocking chair rocked a little more by itself from its previous momentum. At that moment I thought, 'Ah, I want to wake up now...'; but the feeling of missing Duo kept me awaken already... 'so this is not a dream' my mind added, 'Then, could you stop making matters even more complicated than it already is...?'.

..._I'm tired_.

Ren Lei uncharacteristically pulled his lips to a smirk; I could feel it in the air. "Should I say 'it's an honor to have a visit from you'...?" he asked slowly.

"Hmmh... I don't care about honor..." Soleil stared at my back, "I'm here with my Tou-san, so..." he stopped beside me and grovel too, "I'm begging you...!"; though his voice was nothing but confident.

At a time like this, if it was me receiving such action, I should feel challenged, right...? Ren Lei stared down at Soleil's downcast head and turned to my face; pass this point I no longer care about mischief, he might have seen it in my eyes as well. He stifled a sigh and looked troubled for a moment.

I blinked at him tiredly... then I bowed my head down again. Knowing their people, they wouldn't back down from just some outsider's meddle... That Big-Boss or whatever he was called, he might have angered this 'person'; and I was struck by the realization that probably the man's secretary killer was one of this _person_'s people retaliating over some misdeed or broken rule or abused agreement.

. . . . . . _so that's why those over 40 men cramped in a tiny abandoned warehouse were killed in such fashion, you're making a statement to that Big-Boss, aren't you, Ren Lei?_

So Duo was only caught between your disputes?

Why's that even possible-...?

"...Fine." Ren Lei's voice cut my thought. "I'll back off. On one condition..."

"You take her with you." There was finality in that tone; I looked up slowly and saw a little girl with a long daunting scar on her face down to her hand crouching on Ren Lei's arm... like a parrot on a pirate Captain's hand; and as she held no recognition in her clear eyes as our eyes met, for some reason there was a painful sadness welled up inside me.

* * *

I knew then that familiar vibration Soleil talked about...

We're not humans to begin with.

* * *

_saru's note:_  
1. i.e **Batara Guru** (from the wayang-comics saru's mother liked to rent back then); as a child saru had the first _puppy-love with a character_ was with him, about 4-5 y/o (still in the kindergarten and was struggling to read the book with hundreds of pages and mostly skipped the text, but he was handsome and cool for having four arms and such power ...that was the thought of a kindergarten kid)

by the way... saru's been thinking to continue this fic from some time ago and was hoping to be able to upload at least a bi-monthly chapter... but, you know, somehow the length of each chapter was kind of... too long? -sweats- hey, this one is 31 pages long if you're wondering...  
though with every chapter you might feel like this story is going nowhere (or everywhere?)... saru desperately miss watching CSI series -tears- (but this reasoning got no connection with the first part of this sentence?)  
...why did they stop airing it, kuso...! 'been a few months already... -ze'monkey is showing withdrawal symptoms, if she's getting no more input then it's guaranteed she's going to write something gory again in the next chapter-

so this is probably better asked beforehand: what kind of gory-details do you like? -tinker tinker-  
ahh, but barely anyone review this fic anyway, probably saru'd just put anything red in the next chapter... hehehehehehhh  
the only thing good about watching CSI is... the realization that most of the info about forensics-stuff were only lasted for about 5-10 seconds in saru's head, and the things remain after they escaped through each ear was the gory scenes of death pictured with such great details. (eh, is that even worth watching, you ask? for some things there was a huge difference in reality compared to the film, right? basically even if saru -just saying- wanted to put some of the info into practice, we don't have such things needed to practice them with... that thing about the cola-silencer was kind of interesting, the problem is we got cola here, but no fire-arms allowed ...or the things with chemicals involved, but in school the only experience saru had involving chemistry lab was about holding litmus paper to watch it turned red or blue... What? 'what era are you from', you ask? . . . . . . dunno...!)

Thanx for reading


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